Man accused of 'unprovoked' fatal subway stabbing in the Bronx indicted

A man faces murder and manslaughter charges for allegedly stabbing someone on a subway platform in the Bronx last month.

Saquan Lemons, 27, is accused of fatally stabbing 38-year-old Charles Moore, as the father of two was on his way home from work at Citi Field on Oct. 6.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said in a press release that surveillance video shows the two men tumbling out of a 4 train at the 176th Street Station on Jerome Avenue. Police said at the time that Moore was stabbed multiple times in the back and chest in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack. He was taken to Saint Barnabas Hospital, where he later died.

“The victim was getting off the train when the defendant allegedly approached him and stabbed him multiple times,” Clark said in a statement. “The father of two, who was on his way home after his work shift at Citi Field, was killed without provocation as horrified commuters watched. We will seek justice for the victim and his family, who lost their loved one because of senseless violence.”

Lemon was arrested on Oct. 8 and has since been indicted on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nine people have been killed on the subway so far this year, compared to six at this time in each of the past two years. In 2017, not a single person had been killed on the subway by the end of October.

But while homicides are up, overall reports of serious crimes on city transit are at roughly the same level as they were before the pandemic, according to a recent Gothamist analysis.

Still, several high profile incidents have made some New Yorkers wary of public transit, including a woman being shoved onto the tracks at the Times Square station in January, a mass shooting on an N train in April and a random shooting on the Q train in May,.

Fears of subway crime have also factored prominently in the governor’s race. U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin has frequently stoked those fears, criticizing the current administration for not doing more to put riders at ease.

“People right now are concerned about their ability to get from point A to point B,” Zeldin told reporters before taking the subway to last month’s debate.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, meanwhile, has pledged to install two surveillance cameras on every subway car and fund overtime shifts to bolster police patrols underground. Train conductors have also started making announcements to let commuters know when there are officers on the platform.

Hochul celebrated several weekends of high ridership on Monday, noting that 2.11 million people rode the subway on Marathon Sunday — 84% of the ridership level on a typical Sunday in November 2019.

“With record-setting weekend ridership in each of the last three weeks, our public transit’s recovery from the darkest days of the pandemic is staying on track,” she said in a press release. “Riders are continuing to come back to the subway, and we’re investing in cops, cameras and care to ensure our riders get the best possible experience throughout the system.”

Contributed reporting by Stephen Nessen.