Second teen busted in deadly shooting of NYC mom, 57, trying to defend husband and son from violent muggers: cops

A second teen was arrested Friday in the deadly shooting of a 57-year-old woman who was trying to defend her husband and son from the violent pair of muggers back in September, cops said.

Joshua Bell, 19, was charged with murder, robbery, burglary and criminal possession of a weapon in the Sept. 9 murder of Ying Zhu Liu, who was callously shot in the face in the hallway of the family’s Lower Manhattan condo building at 44 Market Street, police said. 

The violent ordeal unfolded around 11 p.m. when the two ski mask-wearing suspects followed Liu’s husband, Shen Yan, 61, into the condo’s elevator around 10:50 p.m. and pulled a handgun on him, according to police.

The young criminals then snatched Yan’s Samsung phone and $100 in cash, according to a criminal complaint.

When the elevator doors opened on the 8th floor — where Yan lived with his family — the dad saw his 32-year-old son, Lin Rong Yan, waiting for him in the hallway and delivered a chilling warning.

“Stay back, they have a gun,” he said, according to the filing.

The younger Yan tried to intervene, only to receive a pistol-whipping that fractured his face and nose. 

That’s when Liu, who heard the commotion, stepped out of the apartment to come to her husband and son’s aid. 

One of the muggers then raised a handgun and fired a single shot into Liu’s face from three feet away – causing her to fall to the floor, where blood gushed out of her mouth and head. 

Liu, a home health aide, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Bell, who was wearing a white T-shirt over a cream colored shirt and shorts, and black sandals with socks, said nothing as detectives led him out of the 5th Precinct stationhouse Friday afternoon. 

Bell, who was last arrested in August of 2023 for robbery, according to cops, was awaiting arraignment Friday evening. 

Dante Schaller, 16, who was arrested 10 days after the murder, faced the same charges as Bell, cops said. 

The Manhattan DA’s Office has confirmed that Schaller, who turned 16 just days before the fatal shooting, will be prosecuted as an adult.

He had an open felony case for assaulting a police officer, sources said.