‘He'll never have a girlfriend. The guy who killed him did:' Mom of slain 12yearold speaks
Jul 29, 2026
The broken mother of a 12-year-old Bronx boy shot to death outside a bodega last week broke her silence on Tuesday, sharing her pain over her loss while delivering a tearful indictment of the man accused of killing him.
Jacob Freytes, also the son of a retired NYPD detective sergeant, rode his bi
cycle to the Bronx store on Saturday. He wanted to buy a ball. He stopped outside the shop. Several adults were outside throwing punches.
One of them pulled out a gun and fired. Jacob, an innocent bystander, was hit in the shoulder. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later.
“He doesn’t have a life anymore. He didn’t never get to reach 13,” his heartbroken mother, Migdalia Martinez, told reporters Tuesday. “He will never graduate high school. And the guy that killed him did. He will never have a girlfriend, and the guy that killed him did. He will never have kids. And that guy that killed him did.”
Martinez said her son got to live “some” of his life.
“I just want him to do the rest,” she added.
She said Jacob’s accused killer, 45-year-old William Ferrer, owes him his.
Ferrer faces 25 years to life if convicted of the top charge, second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge and other offenses, including first-degree manslaughter.
Ferrer did not respond to questions from reporters as detectives led him out of the station house following his arrest. He is due back in court on Friday.
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