Mother of Bronx teen killed by ghost gun gets some 'justice' after Supreme Court decision
SOUTH BRONX, New York (WABC) -- The mother of a teenage girl who was shot to death in the Bronx by a ghost gun in 2022, got some justice on Wednesday, thanks to a Supreme Court decision regulating the use of the plastic, and untraceable firearms.
It's almost exactly three years since Angellyh Yambo's world went dark.
Yambo's mother, Yanely Henriquez, has filled her Bronx apartment with light, with memories of her daughter keeping her strong.
"I'll tell you that day, half of me died with my daughter," Henriquez said.
It was a bright spring afternoon in April of 2022. Yambo, who was 16 years old at the time, was walking home from school when a 17-year-old squeezed off six rounds at a rival. The weapon was a so-called "ghost gun," assembled from a mail order kit and untraceable.
It's created a scourge in cities like New York, until, perhaps, now.
"All this brings me is more justice for my daughter and for me that's a big win," Henriquez said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, upheld a Biden administration rule meant to regulate the plastic tools of death.
The 7-to-2 decision mandates, for the first time, that ghost guns they be treated like any other firearm, with serial numbers, background checks for mail order sales and a minimum purchase age of 18.
As sold, President Donald Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch wrote, "the kit comes with all the necessary components, and its intended function as an instrument of combat is obvious. Really, the kit's name says it all: 'Buy Build Shoot.'"
"What the court decided today is what we've known for quite some time," said Henriquez's attorney Anthony Beneduce. "That's ghost guns, meaning guns that just need to be put together, they decided that yeah, those ghost guns are firearms under the 1968 Gun Control Act."
Henriquez is suing the manufacturer of the gun that killed her daughter. It's an uphill battle made infinitely easier by the court's decision on Wednesday.
"As a community come together, as parents as teachers and try our best to save as many kids as we can... that's my goal," Henriquez said. "I don't want another child to go through this again."
Yambo would have been set to graduate high school in just a few months. This June, her mom plans to walk in her honor, and receive her diploma, with a big boost in her crusade against the very firearms that robbed her of so much.
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