David Hall raged for months after William Fernandez took his parking spot in January, he ultimately took his revenge on June 17, a sad day for a father-of-four to die.
Hall, 46, chased down Fernandez before shooting him down at about 12:20 a.m., just hours before the 33-year-old was supposed to spend a quiet Father’s Day with his four children, his family said.
Hall then went on the run for nearly three weeks, as police launched a manhunt, putting up wanted posters in his neighborhood.
Jasmine Fernandez-Baez said her brother’s three children, three boys and a girl, had made gifts for their dad and were planning to spend a quiet holiday with him at his Bedford-Stuyvesant home, on the day he was murdered.
Victim: William Fernandez [photto], was shot and killed in a parking dispute in the Bronx on June 17, just hours before he planned to spend Father’s Day with his four children.
Fernandez first encountered Hall in January outside Hall’s home on Forrest St. in Bushwick, sources said. Fernandez was visiting someone in the area, and the two argued over the parking spot, almost coming to blows, sources said.
In April, Hall found his tires slashed. It was not clear who damaged the vehicle but the grudge deepened, sources said.
On June 17, in the early hours of Father’s Day, the two crossed paths again on Stanwix St. at Melrose St. This time, however, Hall had a gun, police said.
He chased Fernandez, firing as they ran, and a bullet hit the dad in the chest, police said. Fernandez bolted two blocks, finally collapsing on Bushwick Ave. near Beaver St. He died at Wyckoff Hospital.
His sister Jasmine Fernandez has been sharing photos of Hall on her Facebook page for days, ever since an NYPD wanted poster started circulating.
“This is the son of a b—h that murdered my brother on Father’s Day,” she wrote on June 27. “My brother was my world, my everything he meant so much to me, my kids, my mother and my family and this m—–f—– took his life over and argument for a parking spot!!”
On Thursday morning, she wrote, “We got the son of a b—h!!!!!! Its official had in custody!!!!! We got him willie!!!
Hall’s arrest was “bittersweet,” Jasmine Fernandez told The News late Thursday night.
“I was determined to share that for the rest of my life if I had to,” she said of the wanted poster. “Once I heard from the detectives they had him in custody, I just broke down.”
Victim’s sister, Jasmine Fernandez-Baez and their mother, Anna [standing], place candles at a memorial for William Fernandez on June 17
Mourners hug and comfort one another at a candle light vigil for William Fernandez in Brooklyn
As far as she knew, Hall and Fernandez had never met before the January blowup over the parking spot.
“One day I guess my brother parked in so-called ‘his spot,’ but it was a public spot,” she said. “He blocked my brother in using his two trucks. He go into a verbal dispute with my brother.”
That was months ago, though, and she thought the matter was finished. Hall, she later learned, had a reputation for arguing with neighbors about parking, she said.
Fernandez’s children — three boys and a girl — had made gifts for their dad and were planning to spend a quiet holiday with him at his Bedford-Stuyvesant home before the fatal encounter, she said.
“It’s petty. It’s a parking spot. It’s a public parking spot. It’s stupid,” Jasmine Fernandez said. “He ruined so many people’s life over that. … You don’t have that right to sit there and take someone’s life! You’re not God!”
Police activity at the crime scene after David Hall shot his neighbor William Fernandez in Bushwick, NY on Sunday June 17
She said her family will make sure to attend Hall’s court hearings. The father of two faces murder and weapons possession charges.
“We’ll look that monster in his eye and tell him how much he tore our family apart,” she said.
Dressed in a grey T-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers, Hall ignored reporters’ questions as two detectives led him into an unmarked police car outside the 83rd Precinct. He is scheduled for arraignment in Brooklyn criminal court Friday.
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