The devastated mom of the 17-year-old fatally stabbed outside a Bronx apartment building wants justice for her son – who she says was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was savagely killed.
Jonathan Melo’s grieving mother, Raquel, told The Post her ambitious and spirited son was eager to graduate high school and pursue a career in real estate to help get her “out of the hood” before his life was tragically cut short when a stranger knifed him in the back Wednesday afternoon.
“From my knowledge my son was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Raquel said Thursday in an emotional interview outside her Soundview home.
“Jonathan was so full of life. He was the clown of the house, he was so vivacious. He always wanted to be active and loved basketball. He loved working out. That was something new that his father and him were bonding over, and he loved his family.”
Melo – the second oldest of four children – was found in critical condition with a stab wound to his back outside a Beach Avenue building in Soundview just after 4:30 p.m., police said.
He was rushed to NYC Health and Hospitals/Jacobi, where he was later pronounced dead.
Raquel said her son had been in surgery for about 30 minutes before he died.
The deadly attack stemmed from a dispute, though it’s unclear what sparked the argument, law enforcement sources said, noting the victim and suspect were strangers.
“I know that this was an incredibly savage thing to be done,” the 41-year-old mom said.
“I want justice for him to be done, so I’m gonna keep stepping forward and speaking up about my son and how he was, so that there are no false narratives out there made about him. I want people to know that there’s such a thing as raising good kids in the Bronx, too, and he was one of them.”
Raquel said she is still in the dark about the details as police continue to investigate the deadly stabbing.
Her family is now scrambling to pull together money for Melo’s funeral service.
