The man accused of randomly stabbing a Bronx teen to death threatened to snap the necks of court officials and screamed he was “with Satan” during his Sunday murder arraignment.
“My name is Waldo Mejia, so get ready to f–king suffer along with me!” the 29-year-old suspect shouted during his chaotic arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court.
Mejia faces murder, manslaughter and other charges for the Friday morning killing of 14-year-old Caleb Rios near E. 138th St. and Lincoln Ave. as the victim was walking to school. Judge Margaret Martin ordered a mental health exam after his extended outburst in court.
At first, Mejia stood quietly before the judge, wearing the same black hoodie and gray pants as when police led him out of the 40th Precinct stationhouse a day earlier.
But his demeanor changed when a court officer started to touch his handcuffs. He turned his head to her and said, “Let me go. Let me go. I’mma catch you when I can.”
The court officer stayed quiet and Mejia ranted, yelling out profane remarks as court officers led him out of the room to cool down.
“I’m with Satan!” he yelled. “Pieces of s–t a– people! … Get ready to f–king suffer!”
Mejia’s defense lawyer, Paul Horowitz, sat down in the courtroom’s front row and exhaled, “Oh, boy.”
After about ten minutes Mejia was called back to see the judge.
Mejia walked in quietly and stood pin straight, looking forward at Martin, as he was arraigned for both Rios’ murder and the attempted murder of another victim, a 38-year-old man police say he stabbed on Jan. 5.
In that case, he jumped the man inside the Third Ave.-E. 138th St. subway station, plunging a large knife into his left arm with such force that the blade perforated the limb, cut an artery and entered the man’s chest cavity, according to a criminal complaint.
The victim needed life-saving surgery.
At the defense attorney’s request, the judge approved a mental health exam for Mejia, holding him without bail until his next court date Jan. 17.
As the hearing ended, Mejia had another outburst, telling court officers as he was escorted out, “I’mma snap your neck!”
His screams and curses could he heard through the door as he was led out of the courtroom and he his rants included remarks about the “White House” and “al Qaeda,” a court officer said after the drama ended.
“He’s nuts,” the officer told reporters.
Waldo Mejia, the suspect in the unprovoked stabbing death of Caleb Rijos, 14, in police custody leaving the NYPD’s 40th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx on Saturday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Mejia cursed out reporters Saturday as he was led from the Bronx NYPD stationhouse, screaming, “I don’t know what the f–k y’all doing here on this planet!…. Y’all f–k around and I’mma beat your a– like a f—ing adult when I catch y’all!”
Mejia plunged a serrated kitchen knife twice into the Caleb’s chest, cutting through his heart and lung, police said. The teen lived long enough to call his father, begging for help in his final moments.
Mejia’s arrest came as Gov. Hochul announced she’d introduce legislation in the state budget making it easier to involuntarily commit those suffering from mental illness to hospitals. The governor cited an uptick in violent crimes on the NYC subway system — including an incident where a homeless woman was fatally set on fire aboard a Brooklyn F train in Coney Island.
On Saturday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described Mejia as “a violent recidivist with documented mental health interactions with the NYPD.”
“The systems we have in place to deal with repeat offenders and people with severe mental health issues continue to fail us,” she added.
Less than two months before Rios’ killing, Mejia went ballistic in his own apartment building on Alexander Ave., less than 750 feet away from where he ambushed the teen, police said. In that Nov. 27 incident, he pounded on a neighbor’s door and used a knife to repeatedly stab at the 38-year-old victim’s Ring doorbell camera, cops said.
He was arrested on criminal mischief and harassment charges, which are not eligible for bail.
Security footage from that episode helped cops identify Mejia as Rios’ killer and led to his arrest, Tisch said.