Manhattan detectives booked a homeless teen Saturday for a fatal stabbing at a local park that left an unhoused man dead and another seriously injured.
According to police sources, the 15-year-old homeless boy — whose identity police withheld due to his age — got into a dispute with two other unhoused individuals on Nov. 16 inside of Sara D. Roosevelt Park, near Broome and Delancey Streets on the Lower East Side, where they had apparently made camp in an athletic field.
The argument turned physical, with the boy using some kind of sharp object to stab 25-year-old Pasquale Alonso in the chest and his 24-year-old friend in the torso before fleeing.
Sources familiar with the investigation report that one of the victims staggered to a nearby group playing cards in the park and asked them to call 911.
EMS rushed both men to Bellevue Hospital, where Alonso succumbed to his injuries. However, the 24-year-old victim survived the attack. It is unclear what caused the deadly encounter.
The young killer was arrested at about 5:35 a.m. on Nov. 18 on Monroe and Madison Streets, sources said. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, attempted assault, and assault. The murder weapon has not been recovered, police said.
This is the latest incident to unfold in what locals say has become a troubled greenspace over the years as many of New York’s most vulnerable have found a home in Sara D. Roosevelt Park while others make a living selling illegal drugs.
