Reel killer: Indie film teen actor admits to Harlem street shooting

Jeremy Sanchez is arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wed., October 3, 2012. He is charged with the murder of Kenneth Archbold, 19, who was fatally shot on July 15, 2012 on Lenox Ave. & West 135th St.

Movie poster for the contoversial film 'Toddlers'

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Kenneth Archbold, 19, was fatally shot by Jeremy Sanchez in Harlem on July 15, 2012.
A teen actor who played a gun-toting killer in a controversial independent movie about violence in Harlem is facing a real-life murder charge for shooting an expectant father on W. 135th St.

Jeremy Sanchez, 16, who played the teen gangster “J” in “Toddlers,” a movie that anti-violence advocates claimed glorified gang life, is also accused of being a stickup man in a Washington Heights armed robbery attempt.

“He thinks he’s living out a movie,” said the mother of slain teen Kenneth Archbold. “My son is gone. He’s not coming back. His daughter is going to have no father. I don’t think he understands that.”

Sanchez was arraigned last week on murder and weapons charges, having written “OY” — his gang’s name — on his prison jumpsuit. He has confessed to hunting down Archbold, 19, and a friend on July 15 about 2 a.m. on W. 135th St. near Lenox Ave.

“We started chasing them,” Sanchez told investigators when he was arrested Aug. 29. “I went after one, but he got away. When I came back (Archbold) was being beaten up. I had a .380 pistol and I shot him three times.”

The startling confession came just two days after Archbold’s daughter was born.

Archbold grew up in Harlem, but moved to Teaneck, N.J., with his aunt to get away from the gun violence in the neighborhood, his mother said.

Jeremy Sanchez in the contoversial film 'Toddlers'

The night of the shooting, he was back in the area for a friend’s party.

Sanchez’s murder confession came after his arrest for an armed push-in burglary near the George Washington Bridge.

In “Toddlers,” Sanchez’s character “J” isn’t afraid to pull the trigger of his Glock. In one scene, J and some friends armed with guns run into an apartment and shoot two people dead before torching the place.

In another scene, J pulls a gun and makes one of his friends eat feces for having a foul mouth. But that victim later gets his revenge, killing Sanchez’s character off.

“Toddlers” created a firestorm when it was released on DVD earlier this year. Director Termaine (M5) Brown didn’t cast actors, but “hardcore” kids from the neighborhood, he said. Critics said it glorified thug life.

“This is not entertainment,” said Iesha Sekou, the founder of anti-gang organization Street Corner Resources. “We don’t need to promote kids carrying guns.”

Brown, argued the film was merely a grim reflection of reality, which is why he chose not to use real actors.

“That’s what’s going on, I’m just showing it,” Brown told the Daily News in January. “You hear about these murders, but people don’t see how it happens. I show how these incidents happen. These are real-life situations.”

Too real for Archbold’s mother, who saw the movie trailer on YouTube.

“I was just very disturbed to see the gun in (Sanchez’s) hand and see him shoot,” she said. “It just brings back what happened to Kenneth.”

The director wouldn’t address the real-life killing.

“I don’t want to get anywhere near that,” Brown said when asked about the murder and Sanchez’s confession.

Eventually, Brown said, he plans to make a “Toddlers” sequel.