Mother speaks out after 61-year-old son stabbed to death inside apartment building in the Bronx
BRONX, New York (WABC) -- A 61-year-old man was stabbed to death in his apartment building in the Bronx early Friday morning just hours after he had returned home from holiday with his mother.
Tyrone Padilla was found in the lobby of the building he lived in with his mother at 2415 Creston Avenue in the Fordham section of the Bronx. He was a former schoolteacher and worked overnights for a company that polishes marble floors throughout the city.
"I held his head and told him, 'Don't die, don't die,'" Violeta Crespo, Padilla's 84-year-old mother, said in Spanish.
Unfortunately, Crespo was unable to save her son. Padilla died on the way to the hospital after he suffered multiple stab wounds to his neck and torso.
Padilla and his mother had just gotten back from their Christmas vacation in Puerto Rico Thursday night, his mother said.
After taking his beloved dogs for a walk, Padilla went back out to pick up milk and bread for breakfast. When he returned, his family members say, he was followed into the building.
It seems as though when Padilla went to unlock his apartment door, he was stabbed in the neck. Padilla was also stabbed in the side before collapsing on the landing between the lobby and the second floor.
"I don't know why they killed him," said Crespo.
Padilla would often tidy up the building himself, neighbors say, meticulously picking up litter inside and outside.
In one final selfless act, Padilla's family says his tissue and organs were donated to benefit others.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
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