Teen charged in fatal subway shooting in midtown Manhattan, police say
Officers outside the Seventh Avenue subway station at 53rd Street in Manhattan after the NYPD reported a shooting on the platform on Saturday. Credit: Peter Gerber
A 17-year-old boy was arrested in a shooting on a midtown Manhattan subway platform that killed a Bronx man on Saturday, according to the NYPD.
The teen, who police are not naming because of his age, was arrested at 12:25 p.m. on Thursday at the Midtown North Precinct, the NYPD said in a statement.
He was arraigned and charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to a criminal complaint provided by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. The teen is being held in a juvenile detention center in Brooklyn, his attorney Michael Horn, of Syosset, told Newsday.
Police said the teen approached Darrel Rodriguez, 26, on the northbound E platform in the Seventh Avenue station at 53rd Street on Saturday at 12:21 p.m.
According to the complaint, subway surveillance video shows the 17-year-old getting into an altercation with Rodriguez, pointing a firearm at Rodriguez's chest and then shooting him. Det. Yousef Demes, of the Midtown North Precinct Detective Squad, also "saw a 9 millimeter firearm shell casing inside the subway car" that the teen and Rodriguez "were in during part of the altercation," the complaint said.
The teen suspect fled on foot traveling north on Seventh Avenue, police said. Rodriguez was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead, the NYPD said.
Horn said he brought the 17-year-old into the police precinct on Thursday to surrender.
"The district attorney did not provide any photographs from the incident that would show the perpetrator's face so I'm going to trust the process, have patience and presume him innocent," he told Newsday. "He tells me that he wasn't involved."
The teen is "otherwise a nice kid who's never been in trouble before," who "comes from a good family," Horn said.
The teen lives with his mother in a shelter in Queens and attends high school, the attorney said. The 17-year-old has worked as a lifeguard and taught children with autism how to swim, he said.
Police allegedly found the teen's phone at the scene of the shooting, Horn said.
At the teen's arraignment, prosecutors told the court that photos recovered from a phone police found at the scene of the shooting show the him holding large amounts of cash and guns, Horn added.
"I have no idea if those are real photos, AI-generated photos or otherwise fake photos," he told Newsday. "These are things I have to investigate and get a forensic expert to review to see what the source of this information is and whether or not they are legitimate photos and what they relate to."
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Victoria Meyer, whose prosecuting the case, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
The teen is due back in court on Oct. 30.
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
Luxe apts. got tax break without affordable housing ... Suburban voters and midterms ... LI employs 90% of highest paid government employees ... County on hook for $70M for dangerous intersection
Luxe apts. got tax break without affordable housing ... Suburban voters and midterms ... LI employs 90% of highest paid government employees ... County on hook for $70M for dangerous intersection
