NEW YORK (WCBS) – A suspect described by police as “a career criminal” is in custody after two stabbing attacks, one of which killed a 14-year-old boy as he walked to school in New York City.
Police say 14-year-old Caleb Rijos was walking to school Friday morning in the Bronx when he was stabbed twice in the chest in an unprovoked attack. The teenager tried to run away after the stabbing but fell between two parked cars.
A good Samaritan flagged down an ambulance, but Rijos died six minutes later while being rushed to the hospital. Police say he had been stabbed in the heart and lung.
At some point after the attack, Rijos called his father, according to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.
“He called his father and told his father that he couldn’t breathe and that he was scared, and his father heard him dying. This murder is a singular– it is unfathomable to think about the level of this tragedy,” Clark said.
The 14-year-old is being remembered as a great student and football player at Bronx Leadership Academy.
Officials say the suspect in the stabbing, identified as 29-year-old Waldo Mejia, was taken into custody hours after the attack. New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Saturday that when Mejia was arrested, he was “in possession of a bloody knife.”
The suspect is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in Rijos’ death.
Tisch described the suspect as “a career criminal” with a history of violence and mental health problems. He has four prior arrests, including one for another stabbing in 2024.
“A 14-year-old boy is dead, a family is devastated, a city is in mourning and the systems that we have in place to deal with repeat offenders and individuals with severe mental health issues continue to fail us,” Tisch said.
Police say Mejia is also the suspect in a stabbing last Sunday at the Third Avenue-138th Street subway station. A 38-year-old man was stabbed in the arm as he was walking down the stairs into the station. The victim survived, but it took several stitches to close the wound.
After Rijos’ murder, police were able to tie both incidents together and identify their suspect. Police say surveillance footage shows Mejia leaving his home, which is near the scenes of both stabbings, minutes before the attack on Rijos.
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