15-year-old charged with murder in fatal New York subway platform stabbing of teen

(NEW YORK) — A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder stemming from the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old boy on a New York City subway platform, authorities said.

The teen suspect, whose name was not released because he is charged as a minor, is also charged with criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York Police Department.

Police identified the victim as Ethan Reyes, 14, of Yonkers, New York.

The stabbing unfolded around 3 p.m. Saturday when officers responded to a report of “a crime in progress” inside the West 137th Street-City College train station in the city’s upper Manhattan neighborhood, according to the NYPD.

Officers found Reyes on the northbound No. 1 line platform with a stab wound to the abdomen. He was taken by ambulance to nearby Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, NYPD Transit Chief Jason Wilcox said at a news conference Saturday night.

Wilcox said the suspect, initially identified as a person of interest in the homicide, was taken into custody for questioning after being found at West 173rd St. and Broadway suffering wounds to the back, abdomen and left hip, Wilcox said. He said the individual was taken to a hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, police said.

A preliminary investigation found that a fight or dispute between the suspect and victim began outside and spilled into the West 137th St. station, where investigators believe Reyes was stabbed on the subway platform, police said.

Wilcox said the NYPD Crime Scene Unit recovered a knife and a broomstick from the crime scene.

It was not immediately clear what the fatal fight was about.

The slaying followed a series of recent high-profile crimes that have taken place in the New York City subway system, including some captured by passengers on cell phone video.

In April, a 62-year-old man was arrested and indicted on federal terrorism charges after he allegedly detonated a smoke bomb and shot 10 passengers on a Manhattan-bound N subway train during the morning rush-hour commute.

In March, a 25-year-old man was charged with murder after police alleged he abruptly pulled a gun and randomly shot a 48-year-old stranger on a Q line train heading from Brooklyn to Manhattan, according to prosecutors.

In January, a 40-year-old woman died after she was pushed onto the subway tracks and struck by an oncoming train at the Times Square-42nd Street station. A 61-year-old man, described by police as homeless, was charged with second-degree murder, but has since been declared mentally unfit to stand trial and placed in a psychiatric facility indefinitely.

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