Police have formally charged one person in the context of a murder investigation after a man was taken into custody for questioning following the fatal stabbing of a 52-year-old second man in the middle of the street in a seemingly random attack in Kingsbridge in the early hours of Friday morning, June 30.

 

Police said that at around 00.16 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call regarding an assault in progress at West 236th Street and Broadway, a few hundred feet from the 50th Precinct stationhouse.

 

“Upon arrival, officers observed a 52-year-old male with multiple stab wounds to the torso,” a police spokesperson said.

“The victim was transported to New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.” Police said a 58-year-old male person of interest was taken into custody at the scene and the investigation remains ongoing.

 

The deceased was identified as Richard Roberts, undomiciled.

 

Police crime scene units were at the scene of the stabbing which was cordoned off in the early hours of Friday morning.

Norwood News spoke to an Uber Eats delivery worker who asked not to be identified who said he had been waiting for a delivery at a nearby McDonalds and saw the incident unfold. Asked if he could describe the attacker, he said, “Maybe some homeless man, you know? Going through something, I don’t know….a random person in a random attack.”

 

Asked if he thought maybe the attacker was perhaps on drugs, the delivery worker said, “Yeah, maybe. The other guy was just walking and this guy came out of nowhere with a knife. Asked if he saw the whole attack, the delivery worker said, “Yeah, I was here waiting for a delivery, right here. It happened right there by that Victoria Nails over here in that street.”

He continued, “So the police….. You know, this is a precinct, so they were coming out [of the precinct stationhouse], they saw everything, they caught the guy right here because he run to the corner right there [to 237th Street].

 

Asked if the attacker was a young person, the delivery worker said he couldn’t see well enough to say from where he was located. Asked to describe the victim, he gestured to one of his colleagues who looked Hispanic and said, “He looked like him.” We asked if he meant the victim was young [as his colleague appeared young] and he said, “Yeah, young, young, young, yeah.”

We asked if he saw a lot of trouble in the neighborhood late at night in general, the delivery worker said, “No, never…. first time, first time we see something going on here, because this area is always nice and calm.”

 

Asked if he now felt more unsafe working late at night after witnessing the event, the delivery worker replied, “Of course, yeah because you know we do delivery, so we gotta go upstairs in the buildings and come out, get the food and stuff, so obviously you would feel scared now, because there can be another random person that attacks you for no reason.”

He added, “I’m glad they caught him. He was crazy, you know? This is… like a random attack.” Asked if he knew the victim, he said, “No, no, no, no, it’s like, I was just sitting here waiting for a delivery, you know.”

 

Asked what hours he worked, the delivery worker said, “Well, sometimes I start 12 to four in the morning, sometimes eight to four, or ten to 11.” Asked if he had been interviewed by police, he said no.

Police confirmed later on Friday evening that pursuant to what was described as an ongoing investigation, Hardy Renell, 58, undomiciled, was arrested at 6 p.m. at the 50th Precinct. He was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

 

We asked if the man who has been charged is the same man who was taken into custody for questioning in the early hours of Friday morning and if he has been assessed for mental health issues. We will update this story upon receipt of any response.

 

Although the delivery worker said in his experience the area was calm, that general stretch of Broadway in Kingsbridge underneath the elevated train track, which serves the 1 train, does seem to draw some random events. A tandem tractor-trailer recently got stuck for several hours under the elevated subway line close to the 238th Street subway station on Thursday, June 22, while police and fire units blocked off traffic in the area.

Norwood News previously reported how on April 13, a man, who had been seen by members of the public acting erratically at the 238th Street subway station, and holding an imitation gun, began walking along the elevated subway track to the 231st Street station over Broadway. The man was later shot by police when he did not put the gun down after being instructed to do so numerous times. It was later discovered the gun was an imitation. The gunshot victim survived and was taken into custody.

 

Later that month on Monday, April 17, a female police officer from the 50th Precinct was struck in the head apparently with a bottle by a member of the public at the same location on Broadway and 231st Street in Kingsbridge.

The following day, April 18, a fire broke out on the elevated train track serving the 4 train at Kingsbridge Road subway station by Jerome Avenue in nearby Kingsbridge Heights.

 

A short video of the June 30th crime scene can be seen here.

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.