Two Stabbed to Death on 2 Train Over Tossed Trash Bag

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A group of ten friends were riding to Brooklyn shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday morning on the No. 2 subway train, on their way home from the Cellar Bar in the Bryant Park Hotel, but after an altercation turned violent, two of them wound up dead. Apparently, one of the men tried to toss a bag of trash out of the train as it stopped at the 14th Street Station. Instead, the garbage hit an unidentified man boarding the train with his friends. The assailant took it personally and quickly flew into a homicidal rage.

"We apologized to them," Brian Woods, 24, of Flatbush, tells the Post. "We tried to tell them, 'Let's be cool about this. It's the end of the night. Everyone's going home.' But they took it as an insult. They came at us with knives." Police sources tell the Times the stabbings occurred after the 14th Street station, and the assailants are believed to have fled at the next stop, Christopher Street. "When we left, he stood banging on the glass [train window] with the knife in his hand," Woods tells the News. "[He was] laughing like he knew he got one of us."

Officers responding to an anonymous call found Darnell Morel, 24, of Martense Street, Brooklyn, and Ricardo Williams, also 24, of Bergen Street in Brooklyn, in pools of their own blood. They were pronounced dead at St. Vincent's Hospital. A third victim, Mark Joseph, 23, was stabbed in the arm and neck; he's in stable condition at St. Vincent’s. (According to the Times, both Morel and Williams had arrest records.) Two potential suspects were questioned late last night but then released.

"He got stabbed over nonsense," cried Morel's mom, Florence Kwiatkowski, to the Post. "He would be the one to put peace to things. It seemed [the other group] couldn't accept 'sorry.' It's just barbaric. Who walks around with a kitchen knife? They have to find this pig. This man is a murderer." And West Village resident Liz McCarvill, 44, tells the tabloid, "I feel like the city is losing its grip. I have to take the subway at 4:30 in the morning to get to the airport. It'll be me and the people who kill each other."

Through Thursday, at least 103 murders have been recorded by the NYPD, compared with 86 over the same period in 2009. But reported crime on the subways is at a record low; the Times says, "In 1990, an average of 47.8 crimes a day were recorded in the subway system. In 2001, the average was 10; last year, it was 5.6; and so far this year, the average is 5.3."

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

By John Del Signore in News on March 29, 2010 9:26 AM

Comments [rss]

johnmackay

There are really lots of criminal minded people roaming around this planet thus,the better thing is stay alert and trust nobody except yourself. For an incident like this, train should also have a police officer as a lookout and for peace order. Extreme NO

alexandergbrown

It's
really sad that things ends like this. If only we know how to accept sorry
then, we both live in peace. So terrible! Florence Kwiatkowski was right that man deserves
a punishment he's a murderer. Virility EX

alexandergbrown

It's really sad that things ends like this. If only we know how to accept sorry then, we both live in peace. So terrible! Florence Kwiatkowski was right that man deserves a punishment he's a murderer. Virility EX

jobertsonclark

The reason was so nonsense, anyway some people really killed people
without any good reasons. This is so disgusting. I wonder when this kind
people learn to accept sorry. I feel so sorry to those innocent ones
who were get involve on the incident. orlando
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jobertsonclark

Gosh...For
just a little misunderstanding he still did this act? A person who can't
accept sorry is a big idiot! He waste the life of those men, where's his
soul, or did he have it anyway? universal studios packages

Dylan acer Anderson

It was horrible. Knives should not be allowed in the train then. I feel sorry for the victims. house painting

Amber Dixie Carter

That's a sad news. Too bad that it turned out that way. Well now it's really too late, two people were already dead. medieval tunic

mouser

killed by litter. i wouldn't want to be on the train with the people who threw the garbage or the people who stabbed them. there is always a outcome to an action, this one was was death.

Spook

"We apologized to them," Brian Woods, 24, of Flatbush, tells the Post. "We tried to tell them, 'Let's be cool about this. It's the end of the night. Everyone's going home.' But they took it as an insult. They came at us with knives. When we left, he stood banging on the glass [train window] with the knife in his hand," Woods tells the News. "[He was] laughing like he knew he got one of us."

Yea you "apologized"(if you did at all) when yall saw they were more "badassed" than yall!

Let us remember they didn't toss McDonald's cups and hamburger wrappers. They threw beer bottles when the door opened. And come on they accidentally hit them????

"He got stabbed over nonsense," cried Morel's mom, Florence Kwiatkowski, "He would be the one to put peace to things. It seemed [the other group] couldn't accept 'sorry.' It's just barbaric. Who walks around with a kitchen knife? They have to find this pig. This man is a murderer."

No Ms Kwiatkowski, he got stabbed because he and his boys( men) threw beer bottles at another gang of men. That's barbaric as well, not the way of a peacefull type to me. Yea less than stabbing some one but still barbaric.

Imagine if you were a lone women on the train with Mr.Morel and Mr. Williams & Co., as they drank beer. Do you think they were discussing the ceo politics of oil and world affairs?

I'm not saying they should be dead, but come on, they are not saints, but are probably thugs who ran into stronger thugs( as opposed to weaker thugs) and lost.

So put the f*cking violins away and go get yer shine boxes!

Ragingsemi

Does anyone think the killer could be this guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet

Amanda Harletsch

I bet the killers graduated Magna Cum Laude in their class!

wow 14th street

If we all carried a Kitchen knife we would all be safer.

signed,

Chef Edouard

Spook

Not just any knife, a Kitchen Chef Knife and if you order before 12 midnight you will get this fine set of finger puppets and one sock!

Mattachine

Why can't they install (more) cameras on the subway?? This would deter someone from going psycho or least catch it on camera. No one has to watch every camera but just to have Big Brother there perhaps murderers and criminals are likely to act heinously!

It's 2010!! People are still getting away from murder!

Guest

when people get provoked, it's usually something inside of them. ever experienced when something made you really angry but your friend wasn't affected at all? some bad memories, bad feelings that got stored over a long period of time... and an event triggers some people acting out their 'demons.' these things are instilled mostly in the early years by parents and surroundings.

everyone must learn to control these bad feelings and master them. no one is perfect yet, but it's the next stage in our human evolution.

the scary thing is, a few people go as far as to justify acting out their 'demons', and they feel comfortable in numbers and the fears that they can give to whoever seems weaker than them.

darkness or light. your choice.

Holsum Pan

Just because someone throws a bag of garbage out the train doesn't make him a bad person or a bad kid. It's not the classiest thing in the world to do but perhaps under the influence of alcohol and with a group of friends probably acting stupid on the train and bugging out, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. Certainly not far fetched. The guy who stabbed him over it must have felt really disrespected by getting hit with garbage on his way into the train. Couple that with a short temper and a knife and you get this tragedy. How unfortunate for everybody involved.

junkyardwillie

I saw this coming years ago, these kids grow up learning polluting is wrong and they try to take the law into their own hands, Television is the real criminal here. They taught violence against polluters was right, someone call a lawyer!

1980s Commercial on fighting back against pollution

LB

"He got stabbed over nonsense," cried Morel's mom, Florence Kwiatkowski"

No he got stabbed because either he, or one of his friends did something stupid . I don't care what time it is , That's no excuse for throwing things out of a window . wheres your self respect? would these jackasses have thrown there garbage out the window during the daytime rush with a cop on that platform ? Most likely not, So why do it at that hour in the morning ? I'm not saying that the guy that stabbed them should have but dammit there has to be a line that you just don't cross ! That's like spitting out of that window as the trains pulling into the station .

xgeyiph772

For all you green freaks who get apoplectic when someone drives in to Manhattan, read the story above and give it a second thought. I often work until midnight or later, and not once has someone thrown bags of garbage out my car door, and stabbed me for doing so. I took the train in today, and will keep a jaundiced eye on everyone on the train home tonight, and tomorrow I'll drive in and feel a lot better.

laisla

Logic fail. Insinuating cars are safer is laughable. Many more people die by cars than subway.

Anecdatally, I was just the victim of a seriously aggressive road incident recently. It was far more threatening than an train experience I have ever had. I'll take my chances with the train.