What to Know
- Nafes Monroe, 25, is charged with recklessly endangering another person and endangering the welfare of a child.
- Investigators said Monroe had his 11-month-old son in the car with him while he was buying drugs with counterfeit money back on Oct. 19.
- A gunman who was targeting Monroe shot his son four times. The boy remains in critical condition.
A Philadelphia father is accused of using his 11-month-old son as a “human shield” while trying to buy drugs with counterfeit money just prior to a shooting that left the boy critically injured last month.
Nafes Monroe, 25, was arrested over the weekend and charged with recklessly endangering another person and endangering the welfare of a child.
On Oct. 19, Monroe was riding in a car with his 11-month-old son Yazeem Jenkins, his girlfriend and another man. As they were driving near the 700 block of West Luzerne Street in North Philadelphia, a gunman opened fire at the vehicle, shooting Jenkins once in the head, once in the neck and twice in the buttocks, police said.
Instead of taking his son to the hospital, Monroe drove his son to a home on the 4900 block of North Camac Street located about 10 minutes away, investigators said. Monroe then dropped his son off at the Einstein Medical Center and left, police said. The boy was transferred to St. Christopher’s Hospital and remains in critical condition nearly a month later.
The gunman, identified by police as 29-year-old Francisco Ortiz, was later arrested. Police said Monroe was Ortiz’s intended target.
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During a press conference Tuesday, Anthony Voci Jr., the chief of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Homicide Unit, said Monroe was using counterfeit money to buy drugs while his son was with him at the time of the shooting.
“He was using counterfeit money to purchase drugs knowing that counterfeit money is something that is very upsetting to drug dealers,” Voci said. “When they find out that they’re being burned with counterfeit money, they act violently.”
Voci also said Monroe had used fake cash to buy drugs on other occasions and that some counterfeit money was found in the vehicle his son was shot in.
Voci also accused Monroe of using his child as a “human shield” while buying drugs.
“It’s our belief and our investigation has led us to believe that he intentionally had his child with him when he was making such types of purchases with the idea or belief that if someone saw that he had a child in the car that they would not fire upon him,” Voci said.
While Monroe faces reckless endangerment charges, he has not yet been charged with using counterfeit money. Monroe was also wanted on a probation violation warrant at the time of the shooting.
Jenkins is one of several young victims of recent gun violence in Philadelphia. Police said Ortiz, who is charged in his shooting, may have also supplied the Ak-47 that was used to kill 2-year-old Nikolette Rivera in a separate incident on Oct. 20.
