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Mom Killed 1-Year-Old Son in Midtown Burger Restaurant, Police Say

 Latisha Fisher allegedly killed her baby, Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher, in 5 Boro Burgers in Midtown Monday afternoon, March 30, 2015. 
Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher
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MANHATTAN — A mom with a history of domestic assault killed her 1-year-old son in a Midtown burger restaurant Monday afternoon, police said.

Latisha Fisher, 35, who sources say suffers from mental illness, was arrested for murdering her son, Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher, according to NYPD officials.

In 2012, Fisher pleaded guilty to cutting and using a Taser on her relative in their Lower East Side apartment, police and court records show.

For that assault, she completed a two year rehabilitation program for people with mental illnesses and was on probation when she killed her son on Monday, prosecutors said.

The two were inside 5 Boro Burger, at 976 Sixth Ave. at West 36th Street, about 2:46 p.m. when Gavriel started foaming at the mouth and Fisher brought him into the bathroom, sources said.

 Neighbors held a vigil for 1-year-old Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher after he was allegedly killed by his mother in a Midtown restaurant.
Neighbors held a vigil for 1-year-old Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher after he was allegedly killed by his mother in a Midtown restaurant.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

Fisher refused to let in restaurant workers who got a key and opened the door, police said.

Gavriel was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, police said. An autopsy is expected to be carried out Tuesday.

"He was adorable. He was such a cutie pie. He was so sweet," said neighbor Janasha Jenkins, 20.

Fisher was still awaiting arraignment Tuesday afternoon, officials said. She was weeping as police walked her out of the Midtown South Precinct stationhouse Tuesday morning.

The Administration for Children's Services was also investigating Gavriel's death, a spokesman said.

"We are horrified by this tragic death," an ACS spokesman said.

"It is critical that all New Yorkers report any suspected signs of child abuse or neglect to help ensure we protect children at risk."

He said privacy laws barred him from saying whether or not the agency had any history with Gavriel's family.

Family friends were still trying to comprehend Gavriel's murder and fondly remembered the brief time they got to spend with him.

"He was always happy, playful. I'm going to miss him. There are so many questions no one has answers to right now," said the boy's 47-year-old godmother, who refused to give her name.

5 Boro Burgers did not immediately respond to calls for comment. The restaurant was closed Tuesday morning. Staff there would not say why.

In 2011 Fisher used a steak knife to cut her 40-year-old relative's head, ear and arm, according to the criminal complaint against her. Fisher then grabbed a Taser and used it on her, prosecutors said.

“I did not get to finish, God save them," Fisher later told a police officer. "I was supposed to finish, God help them. Please don’t tell them what happened.”

She pleaded guilty in October 2012 and enrolled in a two-year rehabilitation program specifically for people with mental illnesses with CASES, a New York-based alternative sentencing organization, prosecutors said. She was then allowed to withdraw her guilty plea at the end of it and was sentenced to probation, prosecutors said.

It was not immediately clear how her murder arrest would affect the 2011 case.

She has been arrested three other times but those records are sealed, an NYPD spokesman said.

Neighbors said that Fisher tried to reform her life once she had Gavriel.

"It looked like she had a light in her eyes. She stopped her life. She made him the center of her world," Jenkins said.

Another neighbor described Gavriel as the "community baby" becaue he was so well loved. 

"He was just a happy baby, he never cried a lot," said Ilene Barnes, 45, during a vigil outside their building at 60 Pitt Street Tuesday night. "The last time I saw [Latisha] she was happy. She was taking him out to the store." 

About a dozen people lit candles beneath a memorial to Gavriel and held white roses while they said a prayer in his honor. 

The boy's godmother was shocked to learn that Fisher was charged with her son's death.

"She loved kids. When it was nice, she'd take the kids outside. This is kind of shocking," she said.

"I just need to see her. I just need to figure out what happened," she added.

With reporting by Sybile Penhirin