Suspect in Video Game Stabbing Made Threats in Movie Theater

Anthony Maldonado

[UPDATE BELOW] In case you managed to avoid this horrible news over the holiday weekend, on Saturday a 9-year-old boy was fatally stabbed in a Harlem housing project while playing a video game with a 25-year-old man with a history of mental illness. What's even more distressing is that the suspect, Alejandro Morales, has a history of mental illness, a lengthy rap sheet, and spent Christmas Eve pacing in a Times Square movie theater ranting about he "felt like killing someone."

Morales's mother tells the Post, "I don't know what happened with my son, but it was not about a video game." But police say the victim, fourth grader Anthony Maldonado, was spending the weekend with his uncle when Morales—one of his uncle's roommates—plunged a knife into the boy's chest after an altercation involving a Tony Hawk skateboarding video game. The boy's uncle says Anthony knocked on his bedroom door at 3:30 a.m. saying he'd been stabbed, and then collapsed. He died at a hospital about an hour later; an autopsy shows he had a perforated left lung and carotid artery.

Morales, who is being evaluated at Bellevue, is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. His mother says that after Morales's death threats during the Christmas Eve screening of Sherlock Holmes, he was sent to a treatment facility, but released because there weren't enough beds.

UPDATE:Morales's brother Christopher claims his brother told police that a voice in his head told him to stab the boy. In an interview with NY1, Christopher Morales says, "It wasn't over a game. I put the kid in the room to lay down and I went down to the store to get us something to eat. And then I got the phone call. And I see him there on the floor."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on January 4, 2010 9:55 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

It's so wonderful that Community Mental Health allows these psychos to remain on the streets instead of being locked away in a terrible asylum. And as evidenced by this horrible crime, Mr. Morales truly enjoyed his freedom.

akrnyc

Similar story happened recently in Oklahoma (in a white, upper-middle class family), where a doctor stabbed his young son repeatedly to death. He also told the police voices had instructed him to do this. And, the doctor also had a history of mental illness that was probably also covered up by the family. The blame can go around to all (from Reagan who cut funding to many hospitals and services in the 80s to also Democrats who've done the same). The fact is, there are severely troubled people (white, black, Puerto Rican, etc) that are integrated within our society.

kleinpeter

I hate people.

JacqueMehoff

I still blame Bloomberg.

JacqueMehoff

and maybe he'll show up at the kid's funeral if his advisors tell him to but since it's not a gun related crime, he most likely won't and since it happened in public housing.

kids die from swimming pool accidents all the time and I blame the parents for them and so does the internet if you've read the bad mommy comments of why? why why.

Ph

I'm an angry white guy so I'm not going to post in this thread.

I think my victimized angry white guy brothers summed it up for me.

Daveon8th

Perfect. I haven't read the comments on this site in months and I'm surprised at the attitude that is on display. Did Drudge or Breitbart link to a Gothamist story recently?

Or are all of these clowns from the Young Republicans of Staten Island?

whitecastlerock

Why did you bother coming back? Are you offended that people aren't caving to your sickening blame shifting? Yes, we as a society are at fault. The kid was brutally murdered and you are judging the commenters here because they demonstrate a lack of compassion–please just fuck off already

Billiamsburg

it's society's fault that my hard earned tax dollars are going to pay for the projects that house people like this. People who by any reasonable standard dont deserve this life.

PTG in nyc

But some people are upset that it's Bloomberg's fault for not having enough room at the mental treatment center. Oh well, turns out there was enough room in the projects. How many government subsidized buildings and facilities will it take for people to feel there are enough layers between themselves and real responsibility before they deem something the fault of someone other than Bloomberg?

Malcolm Tucker

The fucked thing about modern society is the refusal of people to be accountable for their actions and choices. To find excuses for the way they are and use those excuses as crutches.

This poor kid's mother fucked off to god knows where and let him hang out with his uncle and a man with a history of metal illness and violence, and somehow it's "society's fault."

But it's always "society's fault" isn't it?

People need to own up to their own bullshit, stop making excuses and either do something about it or shut the fuck up already.

Mr Mel

Did the boy have parents or a guardian? Who arranged for him to have a sleepover in a home that housed a violent head case? The family had responsibilities and we don't really have to look much further.

PTG in nyc

Why is everything Bloomberg's fault? What about the people who fostered the conditions for this horrible tragedy? Living with a disturbed man in the projects and letting your 9 year old nephew play video games with him at 3am while you go to sleep is quite deserving of blame.

Daveonn8th, it seems hard for you to believe, but every now and then it helps to blame people for their own personal and specific failings rather than hold the city and its mayor accountable for every individual tragedy. Yes this guy should not have been let go from the treatment center, but that is not deserving of 100% of the blame.

Daveon8th

I feel like I'm reading comments on nypost.com. Morales is an extremely troubled adult who deserves to be held accountable for his actions but the fact remains that this administration (and the state) has cut funding for mental health programs by 10-19% which has begun to force the closure of clinics and shelters across the city. I don't understand the "holier than thou" attitude that pops up whenever theses stories are posted.

@Billiamsburg- Are you prepared to let our government decide who deserves life? That is an absurd thought.

whitecastlerock

Well your comment covers all of the bases. You state that Morales should be held accountable for his actions. You then shift the blame onto Mayor Bloomberg and the city of New York for its failure to provide adequate treatment for Morales. Nowhere do you mention that the child's mother, and or other "family" members failure to provide adequate shelter for the deceased. It is not Bloomberg's fault that the boy's uncle shared an apartment with a psychopath-rather, it is the uncle's fault he did not act like a guardian. The child is dead-yet you seize the opportunity to get on your soapbox about how shitty the Mayor is. I agree the Mayor has not acted in the best interests of the voters, but to shift the blame onto him for this is stretching it.

Daveon8th

Uhh oh. I must have touched a nerve with the Staten Island comment. I'll repeat the facts again for you since you seem to have trouble with reading comprehension. The City (Bloomberg and City Council) and the State (Governor Patterson and Albany) have cut funding for mental health programs by 10-19%. That means that there are less doctors and case workers to handle the thousands of mentally disturbed people that live in our city. The mentally ill will be released back onto the streets and incidents like the one in the Bronx will be more frequent than in years past when there was more funding. Not a soapbox. Not stretching the truth. Really simple. Do you understand?

Daveon8th

"His mother says that after Morales's death threats during the Christmas Eve screening of Sherlock Holmes, he was sent to a treatment facility, but released because there weren't enough beds."

That last sentence is brutal. The city and the Bloomberg administration let this kid down and allowed this disturbed creature to re-enter society. No change will come because of this tragedy, Morales would've had to have bricked some midwesterners in midtown to get the Mayor's attention.

5borough

Was the knife purchased in Virginia?

5borough

His parents let him down. People need to grow up and take some responsiblity for themselves. Pathetic. If you had a kook relative would you let them in your house, leave them with a nine year old? I know I wouldn't sleep around a nut like that, nevermind leaving a defenseless kid to fend for himself.

"The City" can't tuck you in every night.