Norwalk Woman Dies Pushing Boyfriend Away From Bullet's Path

FLATIRON, NYC — A 19-year-old woman who died after a shooting near Madison Square Park on Friday may have saved her boyfriend's life by pushing him out of the way of the bullets, the boyfriend told the Daily Mail.

Andres Arias, 21, told the tabloid that his girlfriend, recently identified by police as Erica Lopez from Norwalk, pushed him out of the path of bullets when a gunman opened fire near East 26th Street just after midnight.

Arias suffered an injury from the shooting but is at home recovering.

"Erica pushed me out of the way, and one bullet went through her chest and grazed me through the left side of my ribs," he told the Daily Mail.

Lopez was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital after emergency responders found her and Arias around 12:30 a.m.

Arias said the two had been celebrating his cousin's boyfriend's birthday at 230 Fifth Rooftop, a bar nearby, when they got into a dispute with another group they had been talking with at the bar.

One of the women they had just met groped Lopez and another woman in the party and Arias confronted them, he said. He and Lopez then decided to leave, but noticed that the group was following them in two cars outside.

The groups started arguing again when, suddenly, a man in one of the cars hopped out and opened fire on the couple, according to the Mail.

Police said Saturday that Ruddy Osias, 27, from Queens had been charged with murder and criminal possession of a firearm.

— By Anna Quinn, Patch Staff