#GoFundMe launched for teen set on fire, stabbed in Bronx apartment building

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Winston Ortiz, 18, was stabbed three times and then doused with gasoline and set ablaze
GoFundMe

The heartbroken aunt of the teen set on fire and fatally stabbed inside a Bronx apartment building this week launched a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses for her nephew, who she said was “brutally murdered by cowards.”

Winston Ortiz, 18, was stabbed three times and then doused with gasoline and set on fire with a match on the fifth floor of a building on Woodycrest Avenue near West 165th Street in Highbridge around 3 p.m. Wednesday, cops said.

The teen’s grieving aunt, Victoria Ortiz, who lives in Virginia Beach, posted about his death on Facebook Wednesday night and pleaded with friends to share the family’s fundraising page.

“Today we found out our oldest nephew was brutally murdered in NY,” she wrote. “He fought hard for his life until he could no longer fight and passed away this evening. I am begging all of my friends to share our GoFundMe as no parent should outlive their child let alone worry about how to pay for funeral arrangements. My heart is so broken into pieces and beyond consoling. Please pray for our family and especially for my brother and sister in-law.”

On the fundraising page, Victoria Ortiz said Winston was attacked “after leaving his home to go see a friend.”

She described her nephew as “loved by all who came to know him.”

“He was active in his church and a role model for all of his younger brothers and cousins,” she wrote. “He was bound for greatness.”

He is survived by both parents, his two younger brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, she added.

So far, the fundraiser has reached $1,878 of its $10,000 goal.