Triggerman wanted for February East Harlem revenge slay nabbed, murder linked to earlier Bronx club shooting

The triggerman wanted for a February revenge slaying in East Harlem has been nabbed, police said Monday.

Bloods gang member Mario Jones, 31, was arrested Friday and charged with murder, attempted murder, assault and possession of a loaded gun, cops said.

Jones allegedly opened fire the morning of Feb. 27, killing Charles Buckner, 38, who was sitting in a parked silver Mercedes-Benz at Fifth Ave. and 138th St.

Buckner’s 24-year-old cousin, who was in the car with him, was struck in the left arm but made it to Harlem Hospital on his own and was treated released.

Buckner’s sister, Charlié Buckner, decried the slaying as “another senseless murder in New York.”

“He grew up in Harlem,” she told the Daily News after the slaying. “He’s an amazing father, son, brother and friend. A role model and an all around good person. “

Police say Jones killed Buckner in retaliation for a non-fatal shooting of a man inside Evasions, a Mott Haven nightclub, early that day. Buckner appears to have played some role in that shooting.

Jones was not in the club at the time but another suspect in Buckner’s killing, Tynika Johnson, was. Johnson, 30, was nabbed Sept. 15 at Kennedy Airport and charged with murder and weapon possession.

Jones, who lives on the Upper West Side, has 11 prior arrests, mostly for drugs, and has served more than three years in state prison for three separate drug convictions, records show. Johnson, who lives in Harlem, has one prior arrest, for grand larceny.

Buckner, who lived not far from where he was killed, had 14 arrests on his record, including for attempted murder in 1999. He may have also been involved in another non-fatal shooting in 2001, police said.

Buckner was paroled in June 2020 after serving three years for an attempted conspiracy conviction, records show. Before that, he served more than two years for a weapons conviction and was paroled in December 2013.