A 52-year-old man was stabbed to death across the street from a Brooklyn playground on Sunday morning, and his alleged assailant was arrested just hours later, according to police.
The victim, whose name has been withheld until his family is notified, was knifed in the torso about 10 a.m. outside an apartment rental agency across the street from Fermi Playground on Troutman St. near Central Ave in Bushwick.
Medical personnel rushed the victim to Kings County Hospital, but he could not be saved.
On Sunday night, NYPD officials announced that Nelson Reyes, 43, of Brooklyn, had been charged with the murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
According to a local, both the victim and the accused suspect were long-time residents who frequented the crime scene, a notorious drinking spot.
“They fight every day, but they’re friends,” said the man, who declined to give his name. “Sometimes they’re good guys but when they’re drunk, that’s different.”
“Police, sometimes they come and take everybody out, but they come back,” he was saying.
The man said he avoids the area because it is often rowdy.
“When they’re drunk, like I said, I stay out because they change,” he told me.
Ramtin Taheri, 42, who lives nearby and frequently picks up litter, reported seeing large piles of discarded beer cans near the murder scene. “I’ve noticed many empty beer cans. Like a pile of empty beer cans. “Like this,” he said, gesturing toward a nearby pile.
“They’re always there,” another neighbor added, referring to the people drinking on the corner. “They all be together drinking, but they all know each other,” she replied. “They’re there morning to night.”
According to NYPD statistics, this is the fifth homicide in the 83rd Precinct this year, with only two killings in 2024.