Bronx shooting suspect wants to be tried as a minor

Another neighbor said, “You shouldn’t be let go in this case just because you’re young . . . It’s possible that he’s still a threat.”

Garcia is accused of firing three rounds from a handgun at a 19-year-old man and four others outside 1155 Gerard Ave. on Feb. 22.

Disturbing surveillance video of the 2 p.m. shooting shows everyone on the sidewalk running for their lives, including the child wearing pink tights and a backpack who fled and ducked for cover as the bullets whizzed by her.

No one was hit by the shots, which cops say Garcia fired as part of an “ongoing dispute” between his Manhattan-based gang, Los Vagos, and the Bronx-based Los Cholos.

He was arrested Friday on charges including attempted murder and criminal use of a firearm.

Prosecutors sought to have Garcia held in lieu of $100,000 bail, but Bronx Supreme Court Justice John Collins conditioned his release on $10,000 bail or $25,000 bond, and he was freed on the lesser amount.

Under the Raise the Age law, which Gov. Cuomo signed in 2017 to end the automatic prosecution of 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, Garcia is eligible to have his case transferred to Family Court.

The law already guarantees that he can’t be held in a jail that also houses adults — and if convicted, his sentencing judge would have to take his age into account.

In court Monday, prosecutor Daniel Defilippi said he’d file a motion to prevent Garcia’s case from going to Family Court, while defense lawyer Roger Asmar said he’d argue that it should.

Garcia is due back before the judge on April 12.

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI) — who voted against the Raise the Age bill — called Garcia’s case a “prime example” of its flaws.

“One of the things we brought up during debate was how this encourages gang recruitment,” she said. “Gangs can recruit young people to do dirty work because they won’t be treated the same when caught.”

In another Raise the Age case, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gayle Roberts ruled Monday that Sanjay Jaggernauth, 16, wouldn’t be prosecuted as an adult in the attempted rape of a 40-year-old woman he allegedly attacked in her Harlem apartment building on Feb. 23 unless prosecutors convince her otherwise.

Jaggernauth was already facing charges of forcible touching in two unrelated cases when he allegedly followed the woman home.

Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan and Rebecca Rosenberg