Shooting victim's widow says he took bullet for his son

Geremias Caceres took a bullet for his son, his widow said.

Ordered by three men to get on the ground during an attempted robbery a short walk from their Huntington Station home at 9:53 p.m. Jan. 24, Caceres remained standing as his 17-year-son lay down, prosecutors and police said.

Caceres, 38, was shot dead, and the assailants fled, prosecutors said. The teenager was unharmed.

Thursday, Caceres' widow said she believes her husband sacrificed his life to save their oldest child.

"Maybe he thought if they both laid down, they would kill both of them," Blanca Caceres said in Spanish as a family friend, Ivonne Perix of East Norwich, translated. "So he didn't lie down, for his son."

Authorities have charged two men in connection with Caceres' death, and a third suspect is being sought.

Thursday, the alleged gunman, Ralph Guerrier, 24, of Huntington Station, pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to charges of second-degree murder and first-degree attempted robbery. Prosecutors said Guerrier shot Caceres when he would not lie down.

Guerrier was ordered held without bail by State Supreme Court Judge Robert Doyle and ordered to return to court March 15.

Guerrier's attorney, Glenn Obedin of Central Islip, declined to comment.

Last week, Gni Brown, 18, of Huntington Station, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

When police took Guerrier into custody, he had a bullet in his pocket that matched the one that killed Caceres, Assistant District Attorney Denise Merrifield said Thursday in court. Security video seized by authorities from a nearby delicatessen captured the shooting as it took place, Merrifield said.

Caceres "did not have money, and he was shot and killed in front of his own son," she said.

Shortly before he was killed, Caceres dropped off a car at a KFC restaurant in Huntington Station, where his brother, Adonias, works, prosecutors said.

Adonias Caceres said Thursday that his brother sometimes left the car at the restaurant so Adonias would not have to make the 15-minute walk home after his shift ended around midnight.

Geremias Caceres, a landscaper, came to the United States from El Salvador 15 years ago, his widow said. The couple had been married 19 years and has another son, 7.

"Our family has been hurt. . . . We want them [the attackers] to know they took away a good man," Perix said in translating for Blanca Caceres.

"She has trust in [the criminal justice system]. But she has more trust in the justice that comes from heaven."