'The Department has identified multiple suspects and is in the process of interviewing some of them at this time. Initial arrests have been made, and more are anticipated,' the statement said in part.
'The NYPD thanks the public for the outpouring of tips in this case, and encourages people to continue to come forward if they have information to share. Additional information will be released as it becomes available and confirmed.'
The frenzied attack took place outside Zesarina Grocery located on East 183rd Street in the Belmont section.
Police said the killing was 'a case of mistaken identity over a sex tape' as Guzman-Feliz became involved in a dispute that turned fatal with the group of men.
Investigators said he had told his mother he was going to the bodega a block away from his house to either repay a debt, or lend $5 to a friend. He never made it home that night.
CCTV video posted by Facebook user Riichy Rich Friday shows the pack of men forcibly dragging Guzman-Feliz by the hood of his jacket out of the bodega and frantically stabbing and slashing him with a machete before fleeing on foot.
After a few seconds, Guzman-Feliz was seen standing on the street corner with blood pouring from a wound in his neck.
He then was seen running across the street, heading towards the nearby St Barnabas Hospital.
According to police, the mortally wounded boy never reached the hospital and collapsed a block away.
Officers said with his dying breath, the 15-year-old asked for some water, according to ABC 7 New York.
His mother, Leandra Feliz, 48, described her son as a 'sweet' kid with no connections to gangs who had enrolled on an NYPD program to become a police officer.
'His dream in the future was to be a detective,' she told the New York Post. 'Since he was five years old, he told me, "Mommy, I want to be a police".'
The victim's brother in law Derek Grullon, 19, told the New York Daily News that he's received messages on Facebook from men claiming to be part of Trinitarios, a Dominican gang known for violence.
'They said, 'We had the wrong person",' according to Grullon, who said his wife - the victim's sister - received similar messages.
She got a two-minute video mea culpa via Snapchat, he told the NY Post, in which the gang leader 'said they kicked all of them out of the gang.'
Upon getting the message, 'We cried', Grullon told the Post. 'He was innocent.'
According to the News, the sex tape that started the fracas showed one man rapping while another had sex with a woman whose face was covered in a shirt. It's not clear which of the two men Guzman-Feliz may have been mistaken for.
The victim's sister, Genesis Collado-Feliz, 17, said her younger brother loved playing video games and would come to her for advice about girls. She said Lesandro had recently become friends with a group of older boys, but she insisted he was not in a gang.
'He tried to run into the store because he thought he'd be safe. They dragged him from the store like a dog,' Collado-Feliz told the New York Post. 'They were grown men and he was only 15.'
The GoFundMe page for the family, Justice for Junior, raised $142,825 of $15,000 goal as of Monday evening.
