Police arrest three men in 10-year-old murder case

The NYPD has arrested three men in the 2009 murder of Bronx teen Jonathan Ruiz.

Johnny Nunez-Garcia, 28, Hemphill Garcia, 28, and Javier Lopez, 29, were arrested and charged with murder in the second degree on Wednesday, police say.

Law enforcement officials say Nunez-Garcia (aka “Superior”) was a member of the Dominicans Don’t Play gang who shot and killed Ruiz.

On June 5, 2009, police arrived at Tiffany Avenue and 165th Street at about 12:17 p.m. to find Ruiz unconscious and unresponsive — shot in the leg by two men who fled the scene, they said. Ruiz was taken to Lincoln Hospital by EMS, where he was pronounced dead an hour later at 1:18 p.m.

“Thanks to the persistence of our partners at the NYPD, Nunez Garcia will now face justice for his alleged role in this heinous crime,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said.

Nunez-Garcia faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison for murder in aid of racketeering and aiding and abetting murder in aid of racketeering.

The DDP was responsible for murder, robbery and narcotics dealing throughout the Bronx at that time, authorities say.

The case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit.