Illegal immigrant stabbed to death at Randall's Island tent city in NYC

A 24-year-old illegal immigrant was stabbed to death at the migrant shelter on Randalls Island in New York City on Saturday night.

A 26-year-old fellow resident has since been arrested and charged in connection with the murder.

According to NBC4, the incident took place around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 6 in the dining area of the facility. Following what employees said was an altercation between the two men, neither of whom have been publicly identified, the suspect allegedly stabbed the victim. A knife was recovered from the scene.
 

"Everyone in the lunchroom was crowded together, standing on tables watching," one employee explained. "I seen security trying to cool down this one guest, but the guest he just wasn't having it."

The suspect then "ran to get something, came back and lunged at the guy," the employee added, noting that, "everything happened so quickly."

As the victim lay dying, the suspect attempted to flee the scene but he didn't get very far before being apprehended by security guards, who held him until police arrived and took him into custody.

According to the New York Post, sources familiar with the matter claimed that the dispute had broken out after the suspect started talking with the victim's girlfriend.

The victim was remembered by those who knew him as a "good person."

Those who spend their days at the shelter, which Mayor Eric Adams' administration opened last year, have complained about a lack of security and rampant crime.

Following the incident, Adams' office said officials would be "redoubling" security efforts at the shelter in response, per NBC4.

"The overwhelming majority of migrants in our care came to our city in search of a better life and the American Dream," a spokesperson for the mayor said. "The small number of those disrupting that journey for the rest of the migrants in our care by acting violently will face enforcement to the fullest extent of the law."