A Bronx murder suspect died of an apparent allergic reaction suffered while incarcerated on Rikers Island Sunday afternoon — making him the 15th inmate of the troubled detention center to perish this year.
Kyron Randall, 33, became ill at about 12:10 p.m. on Dec. 21 while in custody at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. According to the Correction Department, Randall allegedly suffered what is believed to be an allergic reaction. The department did not disclose what triggered the reaction.
Randall was administered medical aid and transferred to Elmhurst Hospital. Despite all efforts, the DOC noted, Randall died at the hospital just before 1 a.m. Monday morning.
Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie issued a statement noting that “this matter will be thoroughly investigated” while extending condolences to Randall’s family.
Randall was arrested on June 30, 2023, on murder charges for the killing of a 56-year-old man whom he allegedly attacked inside an apartment building on Fulton Avenue in Morrisania, where they had lived. The New York Post reported that Randall allegedly attacked the neighbor during a dispute, causing severe injuries, including multiple bone fractures.
The victim slipped into a coma at Lincoln Hospital and subsequently died. Police subsequently upgraded the assault charge against Randall to murder.
Court records indicated that in March 2024, Randall was committed to the custody of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; however, he was back in DOC custody in July after being ordered held on $25,000 bail, which he never posted.
Randall’s murder case had been scheduled to go to trial in February 2025, but was postponed the following month. Repeated conferences ensued, pushing the trial’s start date back even further. Court records noted that Randall was set to appear in Bronx Criminal Court on Feb. 3, 2026, for yet another conference.
In the end, Randall spent nearly two years in DOC custody with his trial pending. He became the 15th inmate to die under the DOC’s watch this year, the most since 2022, when 19 individuals died.
As per DOC policy and various oversight agreements, the agency reported Randall’s death to the federal monitor for Rikers Island, Steve Martin, as well as the state Attorney General’s office, the city Department of Investigation, the state Commission of Correction, the city Board of Correction, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Bronx and Queens district attorneys, and the individual’s attorney of record, Brian Sullivan.
amNewYork reached out to Sullivan for comment and is awaiting a response.
The future of Rikers Island — which has fallen into federal receivership — has been hotly debated for years , even as the city, by its own law, is due to shutter the facility for good in 2027. The outgoing Adams administration has questioned whether the timeline can be met due to an increase in the Rikers population and delays in the construction of the community-based jails that would replace Rikers.
However, incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani has indicated he would move forward with efforts to close Rikers by the 2027 deadline.
During a September 2025 event at Columbia University, he publicly committed “to do everything in my power from the very beginning to follow that law and to ensure that we are reducing the jail population, and following the example we have seen in the past that you can do so while also reducing crime.”
In the meantime, criminal justice advocates seeking Rikers’ closure, such as Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack, lamented the latest inmate death on Rikers Island, and urged Mamdani to take “urgent action” to keep other inmates alive.
“We know very clearly what we need from our incoming mayor – urgent action to stop sending people to this death camp, invest in real community safety, and finally get Rikers closed,” Mack said.
