Bronx boy murdered by "career criminal" with 4 prior arrests, NYPD commissioner says
NEW YORK -- The man charged with murdering 14-year-old Caleb Rijos in the Bronx is "a career criminal" with a history of violence and mental health problems, the New York City police commissioner says.
Waldo Mejia, 29, was taken into custody hours after allegedly stabbing the boy, who was on his way to school, Friday morning in the Mott Haven section, according officials.
"When he was arrested, Mr. Mejia was wearing the same sneakers and pants he wore during the homicide, and he was in possession of a bloody knife. Mr. Mejia, a violent recidivist with a documented history of mental health interactions with the NYPD, is now at the 4-0 precinct being processed on a murder charge," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Saturday at a news conference.
Suspect arrested 4 times since 2015, NYPD says
Mejia has four prior arrests, including for another stabbing in 2024, burglary and arson in 2019, possession of a loaded gun in 2017, and carrying a knife in 2015, according to Tisch.
"Today a 14-year-old boy is dead, a family is devastated, a city is in mourning, and the systems that we have in place to deal with repeat offenders and individuals with severe mental health issues continue to fail us," Tisch said.
Mejia is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Rijos.
Police said Mejia is also the suspect in a stabbing at the nearby Third Avenue-138th Street subway station.
Law enforcement officials say on Sunday, Mejia approached a 38-year-old man from behind and stabbed him in the arm as he was walking down the stairs into the station. The victim survived, but it took several stitches to close the wound.
After Rijos' murder, police were able to tie both incidents together and identify their suspect.
Teen dies after stabbing attack
According to police, surveillance footage shows Mejia leaving his home, which is near the scenes of both stabbings, minutes before the unprovoked attack on Rijos.
The 14-year-old tried to run away after he was stabbed, but he fell between two parked cars on East 138th Street. A good Samaritan flagged down an ambulance, but Rijos died six minutes later while being rushed to the hospital.
Police say he had been stabbed in the heart and lung.
Rijos was found unresponsive outside a building on 138th Street in Mott Haven and pronounced dead in the ambulance bringing him to the hospital, police said.
"Video shows that the victim is standing alone on the sidewalk, by himself, when he is approached by this perpetrator who immediately stabs him two times in the chest and flees the scene," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at an earlier news conference.
"A 14-year-old boy, Caleb Rijos, stabbed in the heart on the way to school. You know, he called his father and told his father that he couldn't breathe and that he was scared. And his father heard him dying. This murder is a singular– it is unfathomable to think about the level of this tragedy," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
He is being remembered as a great student and football player at Bronx Leadership Academy.
