A Bronx man and his brother have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old woman in Fordham Heights on Monday, the NYPD said Friday. 

Fordham Heights residents Donald Johnson, 20, and his brother Rakell Hampton, 33, were taken into custody Friday morning in connection with Juana Esperanza Soriano De-Perdomo’s death, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a news briefing. 

De-Perdomo was leaving a store on East 188th Street, between Morris and Creston avenues, around 7:05 p.m. on Monday when Johnson, Hampton — who police say is a known Bloods gang member — and a third suspect got into an argument with a street vendor and two other people, Essig said at the briefing.

At some point during the dispute, Johnson pulled out a 9 mm handgun and shot at the vendor five times, Essig said. Instead of hitting the vendor, however, the gunman shot De-Perdomo in the back, he said.

“[De-Perdomo] was totally innocent, and an unintended victim of this scourge of gun violence we now see,” he said.

The vendor fled into a subway station after the shooting, while the two people he was with fled in a white SUV, he added.  

“The motive into this is still under investigation. What we know is you have illegal vendors there, with Bloods gang members there, and some of which, we have some narcotics involved in that,” he said. “At this time, the motive for the actual shooting is still under investigation, but we’re exploring all avenues.” 

Johnson, who has three prior arrests, including one for criminal possession of a controlled substance and one for criminal possession of stolen property, was on probation for the latter when he shot De-Perdomo, Essig said. He is expected to be charged with second-degree murder and first degree manslaughter, as well as criminal possession of a weapon.

Hampton, meanwhile, has 11 prior arrests, including a January arrest for criminal possession of a weapon, Essig said. The alleged gang member made bail in connection with that arrest the day the shooting took place, he said.

Hampton faces murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon charges as well, the NYPD said Friday.

Formal charges against the two were still pending as of Friday afternoon, and their attorney information wasn’t immediately available. Police are still searching for the vendor and the three other people involved in the dispute, Essig said. 

De-Perdomo’s death came just four days after a 12-year-old boy, Kade Lewin, was fatally shot as he was sitting inside a parked car eating dinner in East Flatbush. Lewin’s 19-year-old cousin, who was also shot, was hospitalized after the shooting, Mayor Eric Adams said at a news briefing that day. 

At a candlelight vigil held for De-Perdomo on Tuesday night, two of her sons called on city officials to do more to crack down on gun violence. 

“She was taken away cold-hearted for no reason,” one of her sons said. “Something needs to change.”

NYPD statistics released at a news conference on Wednesday showed that citywide shootings were up by 16.2% last month compared to the same month last year. Thirty-seven percent of March’s shootings had “a crew or gang nexus,” NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri said at that briefing. 

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell on Friday called De-Perdomo’s death a “senseless tragedy.”

“As I said at the scene of this crime, this is another example of pointless violence on the streets of our city. Criminals cannot act with impunity,” Sewell said. “Everyone will be held accountable for their actions.”