The career criminal in a Yankees jersey who shot a teen girl with a stray bullet near Manhattan’s Mexican Day Parade admitted to cops, “That’s me … holding the gun” in footage, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Joel Nieves, 35, sang like a canary when police showed him surveillance video of the Sunday evening shooting at the corner of 27th Street and Park Avenue — where he opened fire on rival gang members and struck an innocent 17-year-old girl in the shoulder, authorities said at his arraignment.
“That’s me wearing the Yankees jersey and camouflage pants in the photograph. I am holding a gun. I fired it twice,” Nieves confessed to cops, according to the criminal complaint.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Ritter told the judge, “He admitted to possessing a gun and firing it a rival gang members.”
It’s not clear what sparked the violent dispute.
The teenage victim suffered a collapsed lung from the shooting and is expected to remain hospitalized at Bellevue, officials said. Her shaken mother declined comment to The Post on Tuesday.
Nieves — who is from The Bronx and has at least 10 prior arrests — is charged with attempted murder, assault and weapon charges. He appeared before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Janet McDonnell, who granted the prosecution’s request and held him on $250,000 cash bail.
Nieves could face additional charges, too, prosecutors said.
Investigators also suspect him in the stabbing of a 24-year-old man that happened on the corner on 28th Street and Madison Avenue just moments before the shooting, authorities said.
New video of the stabbing shows Nieves holding a scalpel during the gang assault of the male victim — and the weapon was later found on Nieves after he was arrested in the shooting, according to prosecutors.
Cops have already arrested a 14-year-old boy connected to the stabbing and charged him with gang assault.
William Miller
Prosecutors did not reveal what gang Nieves is allegedly tied to.
His lawyer, Brad Foster of the Legal Aid Society, tried downplaying Nieves’ criminal history in court by saying his lone conviction occurred in 2013.
But Nieves also pleaded guilty to a 2014 attempted robbery and did time — and Tuesday’s judge noted he currently has two open warrants for bailing on court dates in separate Brooklyn and Queens matters.
Nieves previously pleaded guilty 2014 to second-degree attempted robbery after he and another man robbed a woman of her phone and purse on the Upper East Side, according to the criminal complaint.
He was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation.
Nieves also has a number of other arrests ranging from fare evasion, marijuana sales and weapon possession.
He’s due back in court Sept. 26.
