By Victor Omondi
A juvenile from upstate New York has been arrested and charged with the murder of an honor roll student from a nearby high school.
Branden Rivera, 19, was indicted on Wednesday with shooting and killing Destiny Greene, 15, from Latham, New York, on Monday, May 24, 2021, according to the Albany Police Department. The shooting took place on Wilbur Street, just east of Philip Street in the Empire State’s capital city.
On the aforementioned night last spring, officers responded to a report of gunfire at the area around 9:25 p.m. Authorities say Greene was taken to the emergency room at the neighboring Albany Medical Center “with a gunshot wound to the torso.” She was reportedly driven there in a private vehicle.
Greene succumbed to her injuries in the hospital.
According to the department’s Facebook page, police ultimately found that the shooting occurred during a robbery.
In August 2021, an Albany City Criminal Court judge issued a bench warrant for Rivera’s arrest. The police said that the warrant included accusations of Fifth-Degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property.
As per the authorities, Rivera is also facing a charge of first-degree murder. He was arrested and brought to the Albany County Jail after being arraigned in Albany City Criminal Court early Wednesday.
The more serious murder charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, the Albany Times-Union disclosed.
According to the publication, a group of guys opened fire on a car in which the victim and three other pals were riding. The T-U reported that the other occupants of the vehicle were “two adults and another minor,” and that the group was in the vicinity to complete the sale of an item “initiated on Facebook Marketplace.”
The victim was a Shaker High School honor roll student in tenth grade. As per the publication, she aspired to be a nurse aesthetician. The Times-Union said that her friends and relatives praised her as “a generous, fun-loving friend, daughter, and student who had a way of brightening the lives of those around her,”
Greene’s family has gathered just under $30,000 through a GoFundMe page.
