A second teenager was taken into custody on Friday in connection with the tragic shooting of a 57-year-old woman who was attempting to protect her husband and son from two violent muggers in September, according to police.
Joshua Bell, 19, has been charged with murder, robbery, burglary, and criminal possession of a weapon in the murder of Ying Zhu Liu on September 9. Liu was fatally shot in the face in the hallway of her family’s Lower Manhattan condo building at 44 Market Street.
The incident occurred around 11 p.m. when two individuals wearing ski masks followed Liu’s husband, Shen Yan, 61, into the building’s elevator and brandished a handgun at him, the police reported.
The suspects stole Yan’s Samsung phone and $100 in cash before the elevator reached the 8th floor, where Yan’s son, Lin Rong Yan, was waiting.
Upon seeing his son, Yan warned him about the armed muggers. The young Yan tried to intervene but was struck with a gun, causing facial and nasal fractures.
Liu, hearing the commotion, came out of their apartment to help her husband and son. One of the muggers then shot her in the face at close range, leading to her death at the scene.
Joshua Bell, wearing a white T-shirt over a cream-colored shirt and shorts, was escorted out of the 5th Precinct stationhouse by detectives on Friday afternoon.
Bell, who was previously arrested for robbery in August 2023, was awaiting arraignment on Friday evening.
Another suspect, 16-year-old Dante Schaller, who was arrested 10 days after the murder, is facing similar charges as Bell and will be prosecuted as an adult, the Manhattan DA’s Office confirmed.
Schaller, who recently turned 16, had an open felony case for assaulting a police officer, according to sources.
