A 54-year-old Bronx man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for pistol-whipping and fatally shooting his romantic rival just an hour after the other man's wife ended their affair. Pedro Mercado was sentenced in connection with the September 2023 killing of 38-year-old Joshua Antonetti outside a South Bronx public housing complex.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced the sentence, according to News 12 New York. Prosecutors say Mercado had been dating Antonetti's wife, and that she ended the relationship with Mercado just one hour before the deadly confrontation. Clark said Mercado then beat Antonetti and shot him in the head in the parking lot at 645 Westchester Avenue, an address that leads directly into the parking lot of the New York City Housing Authority's St. Mary's Park Houses complex, according to News 12 Connecticut.
Police responded to a 911 call at approximately 12:42 a.m. on September 4, 2023, and found Antonetti with a gunshot wound to the head. EMS rushed him to NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, where he died the following day, per reporting from The Bronx Daily.
Nearly Two Months on the Run Before Arrest
Mercado, listed as 51 years old at the time, was not taken into custody until November 1, 2023 — almost two months after the shooting — when he was arrested within the NYPD's 40th Precinct. The Bronx Daily's reporting adds that he was initially charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon before the case ultimately resolved with his 20-year manslaughter sentence.
The crime scene falls under the dual jurisdiction of the 40th Precinct and Police Service Area 7, the NYPD command dedicated to South Bronx public housing developments, the outlet's report notes. The location sits in the Melrose neighborhood, near the Jackson Avenue subway station that serves the 2 and 5 lines — a dense residential and transit corridor in the South Bronx.
How the Sentence Compares to the Legal Maximum
Manslaughter in the first degree is classified as a Class B violent felony under New York Penal Law § 125.20, carrying a determinate sentence of up to 25 years, according to the New York State Senate. Mercado's 20-year term lands close to that statutory ceiling, reflecting the violent nature of the pistol-whipping and shooting even though the case ultimately did not proceed as a murder conviction.
The Bronx District Attorney's 2024 Annual Case Data Report shows that felony prosecutions borough-wide resulted in convictions by trial or guilty plea in 41.4 percent of cases, with the 40th Precinct accounting for the largest share of borough arrests at 14.8 percent, according to the Bronx District Attorney's office. That makes prosecutions in this precinct a significant piece of Clark's overall casework.
Precinct Homicides Trending Down This Year
NYPD CompStat data through August 2, 2026, shows the 40th Precinct recorded six homicides year-to-date, a 14.3 percent decrease from the seven homicides logged during the same period in 2025. Local crime reporting has pointed to personal and domestic relationship conflicts as a recurring factor behind violent crime surges across the Bronx, a pattern this case fits squarely into.
