A 45-year-old subway rider was killed on a D train in the Bronx before Friday's morning rush got underway, police said, and there is a search ongoing for three suspects believed to have been involved.
According to the NYPD, the victim was riding a southbound D train just before 5 a.m. when three individuals — two men and a woman — got on at the Fordham Road stop. One of the three sat next to the man and they got into an argument.
The disagreement soon turned physical, and the other two joined in to make it a three-on-one fight, according to NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper. The train pulled into the next station, the 182nd-183rd Streets stop, and the three suspects ran off.
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Police were called to the scene on Grand Concourse and found the victim unconscious. He was seen being rushed out of the station on a stretcher and taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before 6 a.m.
At an afternoon news conference, Kemper said the victim suffered injuries that were consistent with either a gunshot wound or a stab wound to the chest, but police were not yet certain of how the man died or what was used to kill him. Kemper said the cause of death would be determined by the medical examiner.
The victim was identified as William Alvarez, who police said lived on Metropolitan Avenue in the Bronx.
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A motive for the attack was not immediately clear, police said, and it wasn't known if the suspects knew the victim, although Kemper said it appeared to be "an isolated, random occurrence."
No weapon was recovered at the scene. Police did not know where the suspects went to after running off the train. Officials said video from inside the train car showing the entire incident could be a key part of their ongoing investigation.
B and D trains were bypassing the 182nd Street-183rd Street stop through the morning as cops investigated. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. No arrests have yet been made.
The violence was the latest in a series of subway incidents. On Feb. 12, six people were shot on the platform at the Mt. Eden Avenue subway station in the Bronx as teenagers exchanged gunfire. A 35-year-old was killed in the shooting.
Recent NYPD data paints a concerning picture, with 2023 seeing the highest number of subway assaults since at least 1996. Over that year, there were 570 assaults, marking a slight increase from the previous year and averaging about 1.5 incidents daily.
