Man Charged in Stabbing Death of 14-Year-Old Boy Found in Bronx

New York|Man Charged in Stabbing Death of 14-Year-Old Boy Found in Bronx

The police arrested a man early Saturday and accused him of fatally stabbing a 14-year-old boy on his way to school in a random attack on Friday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

The man, Waldo Mejia, 29, was arrested near the location of the stabbing in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx and charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, the police said. Mr. Mejia was found carrying a bloody knife at the time of his arrest, the authorities said.

The stabbing took place at 9:25 a.m. on Friday in front of 300 East 138th Street shortly after the 14-year-old boy, Caleb Rijos, had left his home nearby to attend the Bronx Leadership Academy High School, the police said. His building, at 175 Alexander Avenue, is part of a housing complex run by the New York City Housing Authority.

The police said that video of the episode showed Caleb being approached by a man who stabbed him twice in the chest, piercing his heart and lungs in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack. Passers-by flagged down emergency responders, who transported Caleb to Lincoln Hospital within six minutes of the stabbing, the police said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

During a news conference on Saturday afternoon at Police Headquarters in Manhattan, Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives, said the authorities had been able to identify Mr. Mejia after a transit officer recognized him as the suspect in another unprovoked stabbing that took place nearby in the Bronx on Sunday.

Officers waited for Mr. Mejia near his home at 270 Alexander Avenue in Mott Haven and took him into custody after he came back around midnight on Saturday.