16yr. old killed for his kx85......Philly Pa.

[YELLOW RR]

 :-\AFTER YEARS OF toiling on bicycles, motorcycles and anything with two wheels that his friends and neighbors needed repaired, Luis Navarro III finally had a bike of his own.
The green-and-white 2008 Kawasaki KX85 dirt bike was a 16th-birthday present from his parents last week.

But as the boy mechanic tasted his first hints of freedom on the bike he'd spent his life preparing for, everything - his freedom, his bike, his life - was taken away.

Navarro, of Pennhurst Street near East Courtland, in the Juniata section, was shot three times in the back about 6:50 p.m. Saturday while riding his bike just a couple of blocks away, on a wooded path near Tampa Street and Wyoming Avenue, police said.

Now, there is no one on Navarro's block to fix the broken bicycles and no one to fix the young man's broken family.

"His mother is in the hospital. The minute she found out, she collapsed. She can't cope with it," Navarro's uncle Jose Gonzalez said. "She's going crazy because she bought him that bike. Her conscience is killing her."

Speaking outside the family's home yesterday, Gonzalez remembered his nephew as a "nice, clean" boy who attended Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School and wanted to become a mechanic.

As a child, Navarro would hold doors open for supermarket shoppers and help them carry their groceries to the car, Gonzalez said.

Now, the family is in shock and sickened that their loved one, who cared so much about helping others, was so senselessly taken away.

"They freaking killed him for a motorcycle. They just cut his life short for a bike," Gonzalez said. "It's really wrong. It's so hard to believe."

Carlos Navarro, another of Navarro's uncles, remembered his nephew as a career-oriented young man who did well in school.

"I went into his room last night and I saw he had an application filled out, right there on his dresser, for a job at Burlington Coat Factory," he said. "He always had that drive."

Navarro's family and friends said they believed he was riding his dirt bike with someone else Saturday, but police did not confirm those reports.

Homicide Sgt. Anthony McFadden said police have yet to determine whether Navarro was assaulted by one person or a group of people. McFadden did say that the apparent motive for the murder was the robbery of the dirt bike.

Nashialee Lune, a friend and neighbor of Navarro's, remembered how he diligently attended three months of practice for her 16th-birthday party last year.

Navarro was one of the more talented young men in the group of 18 or so teenagers who performed four dances - the waltz, salsa, merengue and hip- hop - at her party, she said. He often would instruct the other dancers in the rehearsals, she said.

"He was such a good kid, very friendly," Lune said. "Anybody who needed a favor with a bike or anything, he was there to help."

Lune's mother, Frances Abreu, affectionately remembered the boy some called "Cito," who she said came from a "very strict" household.

"It's so hard," she said. "He hadn't developed into knowing about the world and how bad it really is."

Navarro's uncles said they regretted watching the television news Saturday evening, and seeing their loved one turn into a statistic in the city's sea of homicides.

"I was just thinking, 'Wow, my nephew has become one of those numbers on the news!' " Carlos Navarro said.

Gonzalez, of Vineland, N.J., stared blankly with glazed eyes and posed a question.

"Why do they call this the City of Brotherly Love?" he asked.
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[YELLOW RR]

The mother of one of three teens questioned by homicide detectives Monday night believed that the dirt bike in her house belonged to Luis Navarro III.
" 'Get that bike outta my house. That bike belongs to that dead kid,' " she told her son, according to police.

Yesterday, police arrested and charged Eric Smith, 16, with murder and related offenses in the shooting death of Navarro, also 16, Saturday night on Tampa Street near Wyoming Avenue, in Juniata.

Police said Navarro had been killed because Smith wanted his shiny, new green-and-white Kawasaki kx85 bike.

The two other boys were released without charges, police said yesterday. They declined to identify the mother who had ordered the stolen bike out of her house.

Smith's family could not be reached for comment.

Neighbors last night pointed to his home on Granite Street near Summerdale Avenue in Northeast Philly's Summerdale section. Although they refused to talk about Smith, his house spoke volumes.

A sticker on his front door read, "Thug For Life," while a sign in the front window proclaimed: "Never mind the dog, beware the gun."

Chief Inspector Joseph Fox said at a news conference yesterday that Smith had been apprehended because a citizen with a keen eye and a personal friendship with a police officer had seen the three teenagers Monday afternoon pushing a dirt bike along Marcella Street near Summerdale Avenue.

The citizen recognized it as Navarro's bike, even though it was partly covered by a tarpaulin, Fox said.

He phoned an officer he knew in the 25th district, headquartered at Whitaker Avenue and Luzerne Street, and the officer went searching for the three youths with a partner.

When the teens saw the officers, they fled into a house, leaving the bike in the rear. Fox said police later retrieved a weapon from the house that they believe was used to kill Navarro.

"It was good police work, plain and simple," added Homicide Sgt. Ron McClane.

In a city where a "no-snitch" culture prevails, Fox commended the homicide unit and the officers from the 25th district for the "successful conclusion of the case in a very short period of time."

Fox spoke of the Navarro family's pain at losing such a young life to the thoughtless envy for a motorbike.

"It doesn't really do anything for the family of young Luis, other than hopefully provide them with at least a little bit of closure that the individual that murdered their son is at least taken off the streets," Fox said.

Fox said that Smith would be prosecuted as an adult.

Navarro, who attended Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School, had aspirations of becoming a mechanic, his family said. *

[94Hardbody4x4]

That sucks. And for such a slow bike too.

[sykolincoln]

who the F cares if the bike was slow? a kid was killed needlessly for it f'n retards

[94Hardbody4x4]

Yeaaahhhhh, It sucks the kid died. I never said anything against that. I was just saying the kid that shot him was an idiot. He took someone's life for such a rediculas bike.

[hondarider95]

Yeaaahhhhh, It sucks the kid died. I never said anything against that. I was just saying the kid that shot him was an idiot. He took someone's life for such a rediculas bike.

So if it had been a kx 250 it would have been worth it? Seriously 94hardbody4x4 your digging yourself in hole. This story is really screwed up though. I feel bad for that kid and his family. Some criminals should be hung.

[k.p.]

wow man i think its great how you can be so insensitive to something like that "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh that sucks" wow you seem like a caring induvidual.

anyways my condolences to the family. its a shame that someone would to that just for a dirtbike

[k.p.]

yeah johnf you totally misunderstood what i was trying to say

also if you reread what i said "my condolences to the family" meaning hey im sorry your son died

[gearhead400]

well i hope that kid rot's in jail. That kid just got what he worked so hard for and had it taken away because this kid thought he was a thug.