A toddler used as a “human shield” by his dad in a 2019 drug-deal gone wrong has died.
Little Yaseem Jenkins, three, was less than a year-old when he was left riddled with bullets in his head, neck and buttocks.
His dad Nafes Monroe had taken Yaseem in the car with him to buy drugs with fake notes in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park area.
Monroe wrongly believed that by having the infant with him, the dealers he was trying to fleece wouldn’t retaliate.
But the drug deal went sour and alleged shooter Francisco Ortiz, 29, fired into Monroe’s vehicle – striking the youngster sitting in the backseat, officials say.
At a press conference on Friday, Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner said little Yaseem’s cause of death is currently unknown, but authorities believe he died from the injuries he sustained three years ago.
If the coroner rules that his death was a homicide, then Ortiz is expected to be charged with murdering the boy, the New York Post reports.
At the time, police charged Monroe with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person, according to local media.
District attorney’s office spokesman Anthony Voci said after the shooting: “Our investigation has led us to believe that he intentionally had his child with him when he was making such types of purchases with the idea or belief that if someone saw that he had a child in the car, that they would not fire upon him.
“A human shield is probably the term that I would use.”
Within hours, another baby was shot with the same weapon used on Naseem.
Two-year-old Nikolette Rivera sustained a gunshot wound to the back of the heat after suspects opened fire at her home in North Philadelphia.
Cops believe Ortiz passed the firearm on to Nikolette’s suspected killers, local media reports.