Two young men were under arrest as police hunted for a third suspect in connection with what police sources called a revenge stabbing death of a Fordham teenager earlier this month.
Seventeen-year-old Pompey “Blizz” Pernell became the 52nd Precinct’s first homicide victim of the year after he was attacked by three young males shortly after 7 p.m. on Feb. 13, near East 193rd Street and Decatur Avenue, a known gang and narcotics sales area in the precinct.
Police said the three attackers surrounded Pompey and one of them stabbed him multiple times in the chest. He staggered down the block into a corner bodega where he collapsed. Pompey, of 2554 Marion Ave., was rushed by ambulance to St. Barnabas Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Detectives believe the stabbing involved revenge against the victim, who was arrested in December for allegedly slashing another youth on the wrist and left hand. He was charged with assault and criminal possession of a knife, and was awaiting trial.
Hector Calderone, 20, and Jason Ramirez, 20, both of 215 E. 197th St., were arrested a few days after the attack and charged with second degree murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon. They were ordered held without bail at their arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on Feb. 18.
A police source said Pompey’s attackers are affiliated with the 94Bloods gang.
Police said they are still seeking Justin Flores, 19, of 315 E. 187th St., as a suspect in the attack. A police source said Flores is believed to have been the actual stabber.
Pompey was killed where another teen was killed two blocks away. That killing was also gang-related, police said at the time.
It was also less than a mile away from where knife and machete-wielding suspects of the deadly Trinitarios gang members dragged Lesandro (Junior) Guzman-Feliz from a bodega last summer and stabbed and slashed him to death. The youth managed to stagger two blocks to St. Barnabas Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Pompey’s death marks the first reported homicide for the precinct covering Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham, Kingsbridge Heights, and University Heights. It comes two months earlier than last year’s first homicide in the Five-Two, which happened on April 23 at 3152 Hull Ave., off East 204th St.