PETA is offering up to $5,000 for information on the man who gunned down a mom of four and her dog in a Brooklyn bodega, the organization said Tuesday.
The gunman opened fire from the doorway of the Bedford-Stuyvesant bodega at DeKalb and Franklin avenues around 9:45 p.m. Sunday — apparently aiming for another man in the store but inadvertently striking Jennifer Ynoa, 36, and her 1-year-old pit bull, Blue, authorities said.
Ynoa was seen on surveillance footage stumbling outside the store with her injured pooch behind her before she collapses on the sidewalk. Both Ynoa and Blue died of their injuries.
“This dog suffered both the agony of being shot alongside his guardian and the helplessness of being unable to protect her, as loyal dogs invariably want to do,” PETA senior vice president Colleen O’Brien said in a statement. “PETA urges anyone with information to come forward so that their killer can pay the price for this horrific crime.”
The organization promised the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction — including for felony cruelty to animals — of the suspect in the case.
A man seen eating from a bag of chips in store surveillance footage is believed to have been the intended target, an NYPD official said.
“[Investigators are] looking at, who was the guy in the back of the store, and was he the intended victim?” the official said. “The lady seems to be unintended.
Another police source added, “This is one of those terrible stories where you can’t even go to the corner store.”
Ynoa was a medical assistant and mother of four, said her boyfriend, Carlton Busch, 46, on Monday.
Busch said his girlfriend and Blue “weren’t a target for something.
“I’m hoping the police can come to a better conclusion than me. There should be justice,” he said. “This is crazy. There’s people going around with weapons. This was not a woman who was threatening anybody.”
