A migrant teen was stabbed to death and another was injured after a group of men asked if they spoke English and attacked them when they said they didn’t.
New York City Police Department says officers responded to a 911 call for an assault in Lower Manhattan around 7:30 p.m on Thursday.
Upon arrival, police found a 17-year-old with a stab wound to the chest. The other man, an 18-year-old, was stabbed in the left arm with a screwdriver. Emergency responders transported both individuals to NYC Health and Hospitals / Bellevue. The 17-year-old, identified as Yeremi Colino, died from his injuries.
The 18-year-old is in stable condition. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, a spokesperson for the NYPD told The Independent. Investigators managed to recover a knife from the scene. Both teens had been living in Manhattan hotels, according to ABC 7.
Before the attack, investigators said a suspect asked the teens if they spoke English. They were stabbed after they replied “No”. Mayor Eric Adams told the outlet the incident could be classified as a hate crime if it’s determined the men were stabbed for not speaking English.
Police say they are looking for men in their 20s with dark complexions. One man wore a green jacket, white pants and white sneakers at the time of the incident. A second wore red pants, a red hooded sweatshirt with a black jacket and a black backpack, while a third wore red sweatpants, a red hooded sweatshirt, a black jacket and blue/white sneakers.
A student at Pace University left the dining hall to find the crime scene. The student observed a bloody pair of pliers and a blood-covered sharp stick on the group, the outlet reported.
“All the cops started coming down John Street from Broadway, There was a lot of commotion, they started yelling at us to get out of the way, and I guess somebody got stabbed with either a pliers or a wooden stick.
“It was pretty chaotic. Cops were pushing people out of the way, trying to secure the scene and there was a lot of blood, there was a big trail like cross different parts of John Street,” student Mason Garrity told the TV station.
