Corona girl's death draws vows of patrols

Days after Corona resident Genesis Regalado, 11, was shot and killed playing outside her home on 99th Street, Assemblyman Jos Peralta, the Guardian Angels and other community leaders joined the Regalado family outside their home vowing to increase patrols in the area to make sure another tragedy like this does not occur.
A bullet allegedly intended for her older brother Jeffrey Regalado, struck and killed Genesis shortly after 11 p.m. on Monday, July 17. She was trying to stay cool playing in water from a fire hydrant outside of her apartment.
A day following the shooting, federal agents seized alleged shooter Jeffrey Matista as he was exiting a plane in the Dominican Republican after receiving a tip from Matista's cousin and the alleged driver of the car Joewyn Diaz.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown charged Matista with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded gun and reckless endangerment and Diaz with hindering the prosecution of a suspect.
&#8220A tragedy has occurred, and little Genesis Regalado has lost her life,” Peralta said. &#8220Now is the time we have to stop the violence, and now is the time that we will take matters into our own hands by getting involved so tragedies like this never, ever happen again.”
Peralta told those in attendance at a briefing on Thursday, July 20, that police indicated that the shooting was gang-related, a problem that Peralta has seen in his district as well as the Corona streets where the shooting occurred.
&#8220One innocent girl's blood is too much to shed,” said Peralta, who is urging the 110th Precinct to patrol the neighborhood more and asking the Guardian Angels to increase their presence in the South Corona neighborhood.
President and founder of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, said that his organization planned to bring in members from Coney Island, Washington Heights and other areas in order to increase their presence in this area.
In addition, Peralta also vowed to start a campaign to inform and educate parents about identifying signs that their children may be involved in gangs in order to prevent future incidents.
&#8220It is unfortunate that it took a tragedy like this to create a movement, but we will not let little Genesis Regalado die in vain.”