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The 37-year-old suspected of slaying a straphanger in a grisly murder on the D train was not provoked before the vicious attack on Saturday, according to prosecutors. When suspect Gerardo Sanchez boarded the first car of the northbound train at around 2 am at Rockefeller Center, he seemed "disorganized and disoriented before and after the shocking violence," a witness told police, according to the Post.
A passenger claims that when Sanchez boarded the train, he looked disturbed and was "eating something, making a mess." Then the suspect approached victim Dwight Johnson, 36, who was sitting near the door on a three-seat bench, and demanded that Johnson move his bag from an unoccupied seat to make room. According to the Post, Johnson pointed out that there were other seats on the train. Sanchez allegedly stated: "No, I want this seat."
Johnson had already "without a word" removed his bag from the chair when Sanchez flipped out, shouting: "You think I'm scared of you? I'm not scared of you!" Johnson did not reply. That's when Sanchez pulled out a steak knife and stabbed Johnson twice, hitting his hands and neck, puncturing his carotid artery. After the attack, the suspect pried open the subway doors and dropped the murder weapon on the tracks and began mumbling, "I want to go home, I gotta go home, I gotta go home," a witness said.
Though Sanchez has claimed that Johnson punched him first, prosecutor Eric Kratville called the murder "a completely unprovoked attack on an unarmed stranger in front of 20 to 30 witnesses" at Sanchez's arraignment yesterday. "There were a number of empty seats on the subway, but this defendant insisted on sitting in that seat," Kratville said. Sanchez — whose friends and family claim he had been acting oddly and abusing pain medication since he fell at his exterminating job two weeks ago — pleaded not guilty Sunday and was held without bail.
More details have also emerged on the victim, who according to the Daily News was "a mentally ill germophobe who used his bag to keep people at a safe distance." Phenix Hall, a volunteer who befriended Johnson at a soup kitchen years ago, told the paper that Johnson — who was estranged from his family and had trouble staying on his medicine — was "very paranoid" and had an erratic temper. "He didn't like people to sit next to him. Dwight was famous for placing his bag on the seat beside him," said Hall, who noted that Johnson's attachment to his bag actually ended their friendship. "I was sitting on a park bench and he wanted to put his bag where my bag was," Hall said. "We argued and he pushed me. He was tormented by his illness."
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Atleast he killed an annoying psycho instead of a normal person.
idiot.
You may want to read the story again, #1
why are the VICTIM'S personal foibles even an issue? makes no matter if he was paranoid, liked to keep his bag next to him at all times, or was a germophobe. with 20-30 witnesses saying the murder was completely unprovoked, that's all anyone needs to know about the poor victim. it makes no difference if the victim was Dwight Johnson, Dwight Gooden or Dwight Shute. in typical tabloid style though, the Daily News must point out all of the 'juicy' bits about the VICTIM. it's disgusting and pathetic, and i'm not quite sure why the Gothamist even chose to include those quotes in this rehash, not germane in the least.
this story and it's reporting is f*ed up on so many levels.
How so? This Ben Muessig guy's articles are the only examples of decent reporting on this site (no sarcasm). I see nothing wrong with the report...
original reporting that is. gothamist is a news aggregator after all...
It is the Daily News, what do you expect? They probably made it up when the image we had was of some guy who wouldn't move his bag at the risk of being stabbed. Now that we know that he complied, it just sounds stupid.
It is easy to recognize a homeless person...
1. why would you want to sit next to one?
2. why would you want to argue with one?
3. why do you carry a butchers knife with you?
This guy was looking for somebody volatile to pick a fight with.
has the police disclosed anything related to the killer's mental state? Drugs?
They make it seem as if the guy hadn't moved his bag the murder would have been justified. Most journalists are incompetent hacks these days. The writing in the comments section here, for example, even the ones I disagree with, are usually better written and more insightful than anything you read in the papers.
wow what a dick
Common sense, don't argue with crazy people on the subway at 2am...
I truly don't think "the crazy" killer was picking a random person, he picked a person that would react different than any other person... (nothing says the homeless man was "crazier" than the attacker). Gerardo Sanchez was a predator and he seemed to be out of his mind.
Common sense -- when you've become the unfortunate object of a crazy person's attention on the subway, don't just sit there and hope the guy will go away. Stand up, be ready to defend yourself, and make the guy think twice before attacking you. I saw a guy once pretend like nothing was wrong and the crazy guy who was harrassing him wrapped a hand around his neck and nearly choked him out. And even then, with the guy's hand around his neck, the victim just sat like nothing was happening.
"make the guy think twice before attacking you" how?
staring at him really really hard?
This is why I pack heat so I can blast crazies like this if they try and harm me or any other innocent person.
It takes a second for someone to pull out a knife and strike your carotid, and then it will take another second for you to panic and lose coherence with blood gushing taking your consciousness with it. You die shortly afterwards with the "heat" still in the holster. Packing heat is of no help in this situation. Unless you just preemptively pop everyone who starts talking to you on the train.
Evidently the cautionary tale about "bringing a knife to a gun fight" is actually way off base...
Based on your Dirty Harry attitude, I find it difficult to believe that NYPD would have approved a concealed carry permit for you.
And you are happy with the NYPD and bloomberg keeping legal NYers disarmed and locked in a train...
Jesus, this is crazy
Hope the police did some drug testing. I find it hard to believe that only pain medication would provoke such paranoia and rage.
somewhere it was mentioned the guy hit his head recently.
I wonder if the killer like most violent people or everyday killers had half brain working properly. So pain killers WITHOUT half functioning brain AND a knife make a brute with violent temper.
i used to try to not get noticed by crazies or homeless or angry thugs on the train but now i just get up & walk into another car as soon as one gets on.
when you get up you actually get the focus of their attention. The perp can notice and just follow you. Even if he had no bad intentions originally, seeing someone running away from him can provoke some reaction (like running from a bear makes the bear attack).
then what should a person do?
there are many suggestions here but wouldn't such things have to be on a case by case basis? all fruitnuts are not the same.
first of all I am sure all of us know the safest train car is the car with the operator, or the conductor, not because they will storm out of their locked metal offices to protect you, but because you feel more confident when you are there (not alone) and thus you do not emit the "victim vibe" which the predators are excellent at picking up. Most people get in those cars for same safety reasons.
In this case the crime did happen in the first car.
I think the safe thing to do especially for women is to avoid provoking anyone in any way: do not occupy two seats, avoid eye contact, do not attract attention with clothing/style, etc. Blend in with the crowd. Sit close to some large strong guy that looks normal. Do not ride alone late at night, if you have to commute, take a yellow cab.
Even if you are approached or spoken to by a strange looking person, just act normal and do not show any fear. If you have to reply to him, speak loudly (which means confidence and also attracts the attention of others). Watch his hands and be prepared to react. If the situation allows watch his eyes they tell a lot, you can see an intended physical action in them before that action is implemented. You have to be careful though with eye contact as it is provoking to some perps. Better yet take a self defense class.
first of all I am sure all of us know the safest train car is the car with the operator,
----yeah, I do that. someone also told me that the conductors are also under the signs indicating where the train is going.
I think the safe thing to do especially for women is to avoid provoking anyone in any way: do not occupy two seats, avoid eye contact, do not attract attention with clothing/style, etc. Blend in with the crowd. Do not ride alone late at night, if you have to commute, take a yellow cab.
-----I must confess sometimes when reading I put my feet up but put them down when someone comes. agree with the eye contact and with the cab thing.
regarding the clothing style...I don't dress provocatively or ride the train in my bra and panties but sometimes you do wanna look nice.
I definately agree, precautions should be taken but you also don't wanna be held prisoner by fear. perhaps a balance?
fear is good for you. fearless is stupid and usually short on life span. however too much fear makes one panicky. if you want to feel more comfortable, take a self defense class it is bound to help as you will learn how to 1) remain calm in any situation 2) avoid confrontation 3) if unavoidable, how to react and defend yourself. That will make you more confident and bring fear in balance. Having a few friends with you, just sitting next to a normal looking guy, or having a can of tear agent in your purse also brings up confidence.
It's a good thing the doors of the car were locked "For Your Safety".
I once sent a letter to the MTA asking why they lock the doors of the A, D, and F trains with the "3-4-3" seat configurations. They said it was because the gap between cars on those model trains makes it unsafe to travel between cars. Which, like everything the MTA says or does, is complete and total bullshit.
Locking passengers in cars is about the worst possible way to "keep them safe". Here's exhibit A. Two dozen passengers locked in a car with a bloody corpse who minutes before had been a living, breathing person, and his armed murderer, and no way to escape.
Plus it doesn't help that someone pulled the emergency cord stranding them
But if the doors had been unlocked, who's to say he couldn't have gone from car to car, slashing everyone at will? There's only so far you can run on a subway train.
spirit-
i suppose that's true, but he could also just slash everybody who's still stranded in the car. either way there's more victims. however, if people can get out of the car, at least they have a chance of holding the door closed and keeping him penned in once they've gotten out.
You're also assuming he's not between you and the only door, if you're in the first or last car.
Because a prosecutor is the best source for an article on "what happened." This would be the same thing as running a headline that says "Accused murderer says homeless guy stabbed self; he was reading Times" and thinking it's an accurate representation of the event.
This seems kind of ghoulish, but are there any photos of the victim (when he was alive, of course)? It's statistically unlikely, but I wonder if he was a particular homeless man I've seen on the B and Q trains. The guy I'm thinking of outright lives on the trains, and was often seen carrying a number of bags and a metal granny cart.
Sometimes, straphangers are in a stabby mood. But honestly, we need more cops on the trains, to keep the crazies and the smelly bums in order.
We used to have asylums for people like these. Now we all get treated to their 'ward behavior'. This story really illustrates how the mentally ill not only commit puzzlingly horrible crimes, but how they are so often the victims of crimes.
Dwight isnt homeless he use to work in a restaurant and has new apartment in Brooklyn. He has good humor sense but sometimes could have temper (He knew some martial arts though has gotten to fights b4). . I dont know which paper is more accurate cause the Village VOICE said they had an argument an Dwight gave the first punch, while the others say he kept quiet while the other guy was in is face??? But D Trains shouldn’t have doors locked like that anyway
who sits on the subway anyways? you don't know where that seat has been and it's usually someone's bed (at 2am). know the rules of the subway: always stand-up (even on an empty train). don't touch anything. don't lean on anything. don't look at anybody and sure as sh*t move to a different car if there are weirdos (which should include people who eat on the subway--in this case it proves true).
some may pine for the days when we could all get along, talk to our neighbor and not be such closed-off, mind-your-own-business, big-city anti-socialites...but this isn't Mayberry. its public transportation in the most crowded city in the country. get on, get off and don't talk to strangers.
as a (fellow?) germophobe, he should have been standing anyways. it's a lot easier to wash your hands after every train ride than to wash your clothes.
helps prevent the H1N1 too. double bonus