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Teen Admits Supplying Killer's Gun in Fatal LES Shooting of 16-Year-Old

By Serena Solomon | January 11, 2013 11:13am

LOWER EAST SIDE — The teen charged with murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old Raphael Ward last week said he gave the gun used to kill the young victim to another person who pulled the trigger, according to the criminal complaint.

Timothy Montalvo, 16, who was arraigned on murder and criminal weapons possession charges Thursday, said he provided the weapon used to gun down Raphael Ward in front of bodega on Columbia Street on Friday night, Jan. 4.

"I saw the guy shoot the kid," Montalvo said, according to the complaint. "I brought the gun and I handed the gun to him before he shot him."

Ward, who was buried yesterday at Rosehill Cemetery, was found with a gunshot wound to the chest about 9 p.m. outside the store, across the street from his Baruch Houses home.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told the New York Post that Ward's shooter had been identified as 20-year-old Walter Rodriguez, who is still on the run.

"This was a dispute, possible retaliation over jackets being stolen earlier that evening," Kelly said, the paper reported. "But we are looking for Walter Rodriguez, and Timothy Montalvo has been arrested for possession of the weapon. That is the allegation, that the victim may have been involved in the theft of a jacket."

Witnesses and friends said that on the night of his death, Ward was hanging out with friends who had fought with rivals from a different housing project a few days earlier.

On Wednesday, scuffles between mourners marred the teen's viewing as hundreds of people came to the Provenzano Lanza Funeral Home in the East Village to pay their respects.

Ward, whom friends described as a sports lover who liked to make people laugh, will be remembered at a basketball tournament in his honor Friday night at the Grand Street Settlement.

Montalvo is being held without bail and his next court appearance has been scheduled for Jan. 24.