Double Murder Suspect Arrested for August Coney Island Shooting

CONEY ISLAND — On August 21, around 10:11 p.m., two men were shot on West 19th Street near Neptune Avenue. Cops found a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his abdomen and a 38-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head. Both victims were taken to Coney Island Hospital and were pronounced dead.

The victims have now been identified: 27 year-old Joseph Rivera and 38-year-old Leon Ricardo.

Victor Cedres, a 34-year-old Brooklyn resident, has been arrested in regard of this incident and was charged on two counts of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

Police tracked down Cedres 200 miles away in Rhode Island on Thursday. He was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police around 3 p.m. and brought back to Brooklyn.

Anyone with information in regard to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).  The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.