A man who shot his girlfriend and her two teenage sons, killing the older boy, has admitted trying to kill the three of them last year following an argument in their Somers apartment.
Fernando Jimenez Meza pleaded guilty Thursday, Oct. 24, to second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and other charges in the Oct. 28, 2024, shooting in which all three victims were shot in the head. Fifteen-year-old Michael Raimondi was killed and his 13-year-old brother Matthew and mother Christina injured.
The guilty plea came after Westchester Judge George Fufidio promised Jimenez a sentence of 37 years to life in prison, half of what he could have faced had he gone to trial
The relatives of the Raimondis who have attended each of Jimenez’ court appearances were joined for the first time by Christina. There was a gasp that could be heard from them after Jimenez answered “yes,” when Fufidio asked him if he had intentionally killed Michael.
What happened on Oct. 28, 2024
Late on Oct. 28, Matthew called Christina’s parents in Yorktown to tell them Jimenez was hurting his mother. They rushed over to the apartment on Route 6 but as they tried to get in heard multiple gunshots. A moment later, Jimenez emerged, pointed a gun at them and then drove off in his car.
State police who responded found eight shell casings in the apartment and tracked the car and Jimenez’ cell phone to a large property along a wooded area of Peekskill Hollow Road. Jimenez was seen on video entering the woods early on Oct. 29, and less than 12 hours after the shooting was found by a police K-9 unit in a real estate office when the owner, a retired New York City police detective, said she observed that the office had been broken into and saw on surveillance video that someone was inside.
Jimenez had with him the .38 caliber revolver he had used the night before.
The mother of Jimenez’ two children told police he had called her moments after the shooting and told her he shot Christina and the boys, didn’t know if anyone had died and was going to kill himself, according to court documents.
Christina Raimondi underwent facial reconstruction surgery and Matthew had multiple surgeries and was hospitalized for months.
The boys had just that month joined the Westchester County police cadet program, which created the Michael Raimondi Esprit de Corps Award to honor a top graduate each year.
Raimondi and Jimenez met online in 2021, according to court records, and she told investigators that there had been multiple incidents in which he physically abused her over the next three years.
Jimenez was returned to the Westchester County jail to await sentencing, which Fufidio scheduled for Dec. 18. His lawyer, Kaitlin Roll, could not be reached following the guilty plea.
The judge said he offered Jimenez less than the 40 years to life Assistant District Attorney James Bavero requested because a guilty plea meant Raimondi’s family could avoid sitting through a lengthy trial at which they would have to testify and relive the tragedy of the shooting.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Guilty plea in Somers triple shooting that killed teenager and injured his mother, brother
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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