The teenage suspect charged within the homicide of a person simply steps away from Occasions Sq. informed police the killing was impressed by a social media development, in accordance with legislation enforcement sources.
The 17-year-old was arrested Thursday on homicide and weapon possession prices in reference to the dying Leonides Baez close to forty third Avenue and Broadway, police mentioned. The 39-year-old Baez was discovered stabbed within the face, again and chest outdoors of Burger & Lobster Bryant Park late Monday night time, on the identical block because the the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
Baez was taken to the hospital and later died from his accidents. Sources mentioned he was seen arguing with somebody shortly earlier than the stabbing in midtown Manhattan.
Simply over two days after the lethal incident, undercover officers had snagged a 17-year-old hopping subway turnstiles on the Stilwell Avenue station in Coney Island, in accordance with sources. After checking his ID, police found he was wished in reference to the killing.
After his arrest, the teenager suspect admitted the killing had been impressed by a social media development referred to as “mess with crackheads” that promotes assaults on the homeless.
Police had been nonetheless in search of two extra suspects, sources mentioned. The arrested teen and the opposite two who stay at giant had allegedly been taunting the sufferer previous to killing him.
Regardless of the supposed intention of the development, the sufferer’s sister informed NBC New York that Baez was not homeless. She mentioned her brother “residing his life, residing being free and simply form of touring the world,” and now she needs to verify his killers are held accountable.
“I will get justice. It should occur,” mentioned Catalina Baez, who got here face-to-face with one of many individuals allegedly chargeable for her brother’s dying. “It’s actually unhappy. Somebody threw their entire whole life away. Seventeen years previous, threw their entire life away.”
Baez mentioned her brother had been sleeping on the location for practically two hours earlier than the younger suspects got here round him and began bothering him.
“They find yourself coming in direction of him, you understand, throwing urine at him,” mentioned Baez. “They find yourself, you understand, fatally stabbing him.”
The grieving sister mentioned she felt “disgusted” when she noticed the suspect in court docket.
“Seeing somebody youthful than my son creating such an act out of a development that is on TikTok, it is like no construction, no rising up,” she mentioned.
The incidents usually are not restricted to New York Metropolis. In Upstate New York’s Binghamton, 5 teenagers had been charged with homicide in beating dying of a homeless man in a equally impressed assault, in accordance with police. In that case, the ages of the accused vary from 13 to fifteen.
The NYPD’s investigation and seek for the opposite two suspects stay ongoing.
