TikTok dispute spills into street as 22-year-old charged in fatal Bronx stabbing
BRONX (WABC) -- A dispute on social media spilled onto the street and, on Friday, a TikTok antagonist was charged in the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old this week outside a Bronx apartment building.
Andrew Tollinche, 22, was charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the killing outside his Beach Avenue home Wednesday.
Tollinche is due in court later Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.
NYPD detectives had been looking for Tollinche after determining the stabbing stemmed from his posts on TikTok, where he antagonizes people. Neighborhood teens have recently been gathering outside his home, knocking on his door and calling him out, according to police.
The victim, Jonathan Melo, who has no criminal record, was part of a group who went to the suspect's apartment building. The interaction turned sour, and Tollinche went inside to grab a knife, came outside and stabbed the 17-year-old in the back, police said.
Tollinche has a prior unsealed arrest for raping a minor in 2025 and other prior interactions with police, some of them stemming from social media posts.
A GoFundMe for Melo, who was known as "JJ," has raised more than $7,000 so far. The post said Melo was "attacked on his way home from school...he was preparing to graduate high school in June, with a bright future ahead of him"
He was rushed to Jacobi Hospital but lost a lot of blood and was pronounced dead.
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