Man charged in 'unprovoked' fatal stabbing of 14-year-old in NYC
Police said he was a "violent recidivist" with a significant criminal history.
A man has been charged in the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old in the Bronx that police described as a "random and unprovoked attack."
The teen, Caleb Rijos, was walking to school Friday when 29-year-old Waldo Mejia allegedly attacked him, stabbing him in the heart and lungs, the NYPD said. Rijos was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police announced Saturday that they had arrested and charged Mejia with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mejia was a "violent recidivist" with a significant criminal history, as well as a history of mental health interactions with the NYPD.
Rijos, a student at Bronx Leadership Academy High School, was a good student and a football player, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
Clark called it an "unfathomable" tragedy and offered her condolences to the boy's loved ones.
"He called his father and told his father he couldn't breathe and that he was scared, and his father heard him dying," Clark said.
Police believe that Mejia likely engaged in another stabbing this year, including on Jan. 5, when a 38-year-old man was injured by being stabbed in the arm when entering a subway station in the Bronx, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Mejia was also arrested on Nov. 27, 2024, after allegedly stabbing a neighbor's Ring camera with a kitchen knife. He was released on his own recognizance the next day, according to police.
Images of Mejia, which were captured on surveillance footage Friday, were recognized by a police officer as the same man from a wanted flyer for the Jan. 5 stabbing.
He was taken into custody at his residence and was found "in possession of a bloody knife," Tisch said.
Mejia's attorney declined to comment to ABC News. ABC News has reached out to police.
Mejia was also arrested in 2019 for burglary and arson after allegedly lighting a neighbor's home on fire, and in 2017 and 2015 on weapons possession charges, according to police.
Tisch called the killing "absolutely senseless and tragic."
"Today, a 14-year-old is dead, a family is devastated, a city is in mourning, and the systems we have in place to deal with repeat offenders and individuals with severe mental health issues continue to fail us," she said.