Suspect in random Manhattan stabbing spree appears in court on murder charges
Sam Costanza/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A man accused of killing three people in an apparent unprovoked stabbing spree in Manhattan made his first appearance in court on Tuesday.
Ramon Rivera, 51, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to the New York Police Department. He confessed to the killings during questioning, according to police sources.
The judge on Tuesday granted the prosecution’s request for remand. Rivera is set to return to court on Nov. 22.
The attacks unfolded within three hours on Monday morning.
The first victim, 36-year-old Angel Lata Landi, was fatally stabbed in the abdomen at 8:22 a.m. in an unprovoked attack by the construction site where he was working on West 19th Street, the NYPD said.
About two hours later, 67-year-old Chang Wang was fatally stabbed multiple times on East 30th Street, police said.
The third victim, 36-year-old Wilma Augustin, was attacked around 10:55 a.m. at 42nd Street and First Avenue. She had multiple stab wounds and was taken to a hospital where she later died, officials said.
The suspect — who was staying at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on East 30th Street — was apprehended around East 46th Street and First Avenue, police said.
He appeared to pick the victims at random, police said.
“He just walked up to them and began to attack them,” Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said at a news conference.
Two bloody kitchen knives were recovered, police said.
Rivera has eight prior arrests in New York City, according to law enforcement, and is believed to have severe mental health challenges, Mayor Eric Adams said. Rivera’s case renewed frustration with the city’s inability to treat people in mental distress and hold people with a history of low-level criminal activity.
“There’s a real question as to why he was on the street,” Adams said.
(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — Four people were killed and at least 18 others injured in a shooting in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday night, police said.
The shooting — which occurred just after 11 p.m. in the 2000 Block of Magnolia Avenue South, in the Five Points South Entertainment District — was “not random and stemmed from an isolated incident where multiple victims were caught in the cross fire,” police said in a statement.
Police are seeking multiple suspects who they said “fired upon a large group of people who were outside in a public area” and then fled the scene in a vehicle.
“Officers arrived on the scene when they observed two adult males and one adult female lying unresponsive on a sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds,” police said. All three victims were pronounced dead at the scene by Birmingham Fire and Rescue personnel.
Additional victims were then located in the area, while others began arriving at local hospitals. One man was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital, police said.
As of Sunday morning, police said there were a total of 22 gunshot victims — four dead and 18 wounded, “with injuries ranging from non-life-threatening to life-threatening.”
During a press conference Sunday morning, police said they believe it was a “targeted shooting,” and that the targeted individual was among those who are dead. They did not identify the person or say why they might have been targeted.
Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond extended “heartfelt condolences” to the victims and their families.
“Our hearts go out to them as we work through this,” Thurmond said.
Mayor Randall Woodfin called for an end to gun violence, saying his “first priority is public safety.”
“Do not tell me this is not solvable — at the same time, do not tell me this is only on the police to solve it,” Woodfin said. “Elected officials — locally, statewide and nationally — have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.”
More than 100 shell casings were collected at the scene, and police said they believe a modified automatic weapon with a “gun switch” may have been used in the incident.
No arrests have been made as of Sunday morning.
The police urged anyone with information on the shooting to contact the BPD Homicide Division at 205-254-1764 or anonymously via Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Crime Stoppers may award tipsters up to $5,000 in cash for information, the police added.
The Birmingham Police Department is working with the FBI and ATF on the investigation, the department said. Authorities are also seeking information from witnesses.
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Firefighters battling an outbreak of wildfires across the Northeast amid a historic autumn drought could get some relief from Mother Nature by the middle of this week.
A rainstorm on the way is forecast to reach the Northeast by Wednesday evening. The heaviest rain is expected Wednesday night through Friday from Northern New Jersey to upstate New York and New England, possibly bringing 1 to 2 inches of rain.
The forecast also calls for a chance for snow in western Pennsylvania and upstate New York and into New England on Thursday and Friday.
But until wet weather arrives, critical fire danger conditions will persist throughout the drought-stricken Northeast, officials said. Winds of up to 30 mph are expected to kick up across the Northeast Monday afternoon, and relative humidity is forecast to fall 35%.
Monday marked the second straight day that no new red flag warnings have been issued in the Northeast after nearly a full week of the region being under red flag warnings.
The pending precipitation will be a welcome sight to the hundreds of firefighters still fighting the Jennings Creek Fire burning on the border of New York’s Orange County and New Jersey’s Passaic County.
Joe Pollina, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Upton, New York, told ABC on Monday that 1 to 1 1/2 inches of rain is forecast for the area where the Jennings Creek Fire is located.
“It definitely will help when it comes to the fire,” Pollina said of the rainy forecast.
Over the weekend, the fire, which has burned about 5,000 acres, prompted hundreds of voluntary evacuations when flames jumped a containment line near Greenwood Lake and threatened homes in the private beach community of Wah-ta-Wah Park, according to New York State Parks Department spokesperson Jeff Wernick. On Sunday, Orange County fire officials said efforts to protect structures were successful and no structures were damaged.
The cause of the Jennings Creek Fire remains under investigation.
A New York State Parks and Recreation employee was killed earlier this month while helping the battle the Jennings Creek Fire, officials said. The deceased parks employee was identified by the New York State Police as 18-year-old Dariel Vasquez.
On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered that flags at state facilities be lowered to half-staff to honor Vasquez.
“Dariel was only 18 years old and had a truly bright future ahead of him that has now been unfairly taken away,” Hochul said. “I commend his dedication to serving and protecting his fellow New Yorkers and his bravery on the front lines.”
The majority of the Northeast has seen less than 25% of normal precipitation over the last month.
Many locations are also having their driest autumn on record, including New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Bangor, Maine. Boston is in the throes of its second driest fall season on record.
Northeast temperatures are also running 5 to 10 degrees above average for this time of year. The added warmth increases the drying of soils and other fuels such as leaves.
Since Oct. 1, New Jersey firefighters have responded to at least 537 wildfires that have consumed 4,500 acres, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, while officials at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said New York fire crews have battled 60 wildfires since Oct. 1 that have burned 2,100 acres.
At one point last week, the National Weather Service had issued numerous red flag fire danger warnings throughout New Jersey and New York. At least 15 New York counties were under red flag warnings last week, including New York City and all of Long Island.
Multiple wildfires broke out across the Northeast, including some in New York City, where one ignited in the Inwood neighborhood of upper Manhattan and another scorched wooded land in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.
The rash of fires in New York City prompted the New York Fire Department to create the first “brush fire task force” in the department’s 100-year history, FDNY Fire Commissioner Robert S. Tucker said.
In the first 14 days of November, the FDNY responded to 271 brush fires citywide — the highest amount in two weeks in New York City history, according to Tucker.
A tropical system churning in the Caribbean is forecast to strengthen into Tropical Storm Rafael on Monday as it takes aim at Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the Gulf Coast.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for Jamaica, where Rafael is forecast to bring heavy rain and mudslides Monday night into Tuesday morning. A hurricane warning has been issued for the Cayman Islands.
Rafael could strengthen to a hurricane by Tuesday night into Wednesday morning as it makes landfall in Cuba with heavy rain, strong winds, flash flooding and storm surge.
Rafael is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm by the end of the week.
By Saturday, Rafael could reach the U.S. Gulf Coast.
It’s too early to tell which parts of the Gulf Coast will see the worst conditions. Everyone from Texas to Florida should monitor the storm’s path.
