3 suspects charged with murder after 45-year-old man killed in dispute on subway train in Bronx

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Tuesday, February 27, 2024
3 suspects charged with murder in Bronx subway shooting
Josh Einiger is in the Bronx with the latest.

TREMONT, Bronx (WABC) -- Three suspects arrested after Friday's deadly shooting on a subway train in the Bronx have been charged with murder.



The three are identified as 24-year-old Justin Herde, 38-year-old Betty Cotto, and 42-year-old Alfredo Trinidad.



The suspects were picked up by members of the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force at an apartment at Villa Avenue and East 205th Street just before noon Monday.



Bronx detectives spent hours interrogating the three Monday night, before they were charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.



Herde, Cotto, and Trinidad are described as transient and detectives said the homicide resulted from a struggle over a gun on a Manhattan bound D train, with the weapon going off.



The 45-year-old victim, identified as William Alvarez, was fatally shot on a southbound D train at the 182-183 Street station just before 5:30 a.m.


NYPD officials say Alvarez was sitting on the train when two men and a woman boarded at the Fordham Road station.



One of those men, police say, sat next to the victim and words were exchanged. The two started arguing and Alvarez was surrounded by the two additional passengers who were riding with the initial suspect.



He was fatally shot as the train reached the station.



"The entire incident from beginning to end was captured on cameras on the train and then post, into the subway station, and then post, street level with Argus cameras," said NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Michael Kemper.



Friday's fatal subway shooting marks the third homicide in the subway system this year.



Subway crime is up 13 percent so far year to date, but cops say that number actually hides good news because January crime on the tracks soared 45 percent.



A surge of a thousand cops underground led subway crime in February to drop 18 percent compared to the same last year.



Arrests are also way up, thanks to surveillance cameras installed everywhere.



"We have more cameras than a Las Vegas casino in the system," said New York City Transit President Richard Davey. "If you do something bad in our system, we will find you."



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Kristin Thorne has more.


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