18-year-old killed in stabbing on subway in Brooklyn after dispute
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN (WABC) -- A teenager was killed in a stabbing on the subway in Downtown Brooklyn.
Officials say a fight broke out at around 11:30 pm Thursday as a D train approached the Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center station.
Police say the 18-year-old victim from Staten Island identified as Isiah Collazo was on the train when he and his group of friends got into a dispute with another man on the train.
As the train started moving north out of the station, the victim was stabbed and the train's emergency brakes were activated. The reason the brakes were activated is still under investigation, but it could have been related to the attack.
The train was already halfway out of the station at the time, and passengers exited through the train cars still on the platform.
Video surveillance recovered by NYPD shows the victim's four friends dragging him off of the subway train onto the platform, the friends appear to check themselves for injuries, and finding none, run off.
The victim initially was transported to the hospital in serious but stable condition, but he died four hours later at the hospital.
It marks the second murder on the city's subway system this year, equaling the number of killings in transit at this time last year.
The last few years have had a spate of subway homicides, mirroring pandemic-era crime increases.
There were 11 homicides in the subway in 2022, eight in 2021 and six in 2020. Before that, the most in recent memory was three in 2019, one in 2018 and zero in 2017.
One commuter didn't mince words when asked how she felt about police presence.
"Do your damn job...that means you can't be standing up congregating like those behind me, you have to be walking the platform back and forth," she said.
But the head of NYC Transit said officer patrol has stepped up and crime is down. Total subway crime has fallen 8% compared to this time last year.
"We continue to put what we can do in transit, the measures in place, everything from unarmed gate guards to continue to roll out cameras and continue to work very closely with NYPD and MTA police who have been dispatched throughout the system as well," said MTA President Richard Davey. "But by any measure, we are safer. Obviously that's no solace to the family who lost a loved one last night."
It remains unclear what led to the stabbing. There are 156 cameras inside the subway station that transmit directly to the NYPD and the suspect or suspects were captured on camera.
Police are working to identify them.
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