STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The NYPD identified Syles Ular of Clifton as the 13-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed with a knife in a dispute that began on an MTA bus in Eltingville on Friday afternoon.
A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the horrific slaying that occurred on Friday on Hylan Boulevard between Littlefield Avenue and Groton Street, according to a statement from the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.
Officers responded at about 2:23 p.m. to the scene where they saw Ular suffering from multiple stab wounds and transported him to Staten Island University Hospital in Prince’s Bay where he was pronounced dead, according to the police statement.
The knife has not been recovered as of Saturday morning, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
“He was the sweetest kid,” the Daily News quoted Ular’s aunt, Ladrina Sheffield, 45, as saying. “His life should not have been taken this way. This as just senseless. I can’t believe my baby is gone.”
The fatal encounter began with a confrontation between at least two males, Ular and the 14-year-old suspect, in what appeared to be a gang-motivated assault on a MTA bus, Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a press briefing held Friday evening at One Police Plaza, Manhattan.
As the argument escalated, Chell said that “a knife is produced and gang signs were being shown back and forth. We have a male stabbed in the chest. Our perpetrator flees this bus.”
Witnesses saw Ular’s motionless body lying on the street in front of the bus as emergency responders rushed to the scene.
Chell said the suspect ran about three blocks before witnesses -- a “Good Samaritan” described as a retired sergeant for the NYPD, an off-duty New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officer, and a third bystander -- apprehended him.
“Three independent people were on-scene helping,” Chell said.
“The retired sergeant started to follow the male who did the stabbing. At this time, another witness points him out as the one who just stabbed somebody and the sergeant affects the arrest,” Chell said. “Again, tragic, tragic homicide. We believe this motive is gang-related. Quick response and great response from our community.”
MAJOR POLICE RESPONSE
Dozens of police vehicles and numerous NYPD officers and detectives swarmed the normally quiet, safe neighborhood.
Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit could be seen looking under cars, checking wooded areas, lifting grates to check sewers as they apparently searched for the murder weapon.
TRAFFIC RE-ROUTED ON HYLAN
After the incident, Hylan was roped off with crime scene tape in the vicinity of Littlefield Avenue and Groton Street, where the stabbing occurred.
Traffic on Hylan from Richmond Avenue to Armstrong Avenue was diverted for multiple hours in both directions due to the investigation, prompting gridlock from one end of the Island to the other. At just about 5 p.m., authorities began allowing traffic to pass on Tottenville-bound Hylan.
At one point a police official on scene said the lanes needed to be opened Tottenville bound because traffic was backed up several miles to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
‘EVERY PARENT’S NIGHTMARE’
Borough President Vito Fossella headed to the scene after hearing about the horrific attack.
“Every parent’s worst nightmare is playing out in real time,” Fossella said. “At this point pray for the kid, that’s the most important thing.”
“This is something that has got to hit everybody in the gut in a real significant way,” the borough president said. “And there is no room for things like that on Staten Island in my opinion.”
Residents who lived on Littlefield Avenue were shocked in the aftermath of the attack.
“Nothing like this ever happens over here,” one said.
MTA SPEAKS ABOUT TRAGEDY
Demetrius Crichlow, senior vice president, New York City Transit Department of Subways, was on-scene at the incident of the stabbing, calling it “just a tragic, tragic, tragic day.”
Crichlow described the demise of the 13-year-old boy as “a senseless death.”
The subway boss said the MTA is “supporting the NYPD in their investigation,” including with footage from surveillance cameras.
“We had cameras on the bus so we have a good account of what transpired,” he said.
He praised the actions of the bus operator who had roughly 20 customers on the bus when tragedy struck.
“The bus driver was amazing,” Crichlow said. “He talked to the rest of the customers and calmed them down and contacted the control center immediately.
“He’s broken up right now from what he experienced.”
Crichlow spoke of the broader impact that the tragedy will have in New York City.
“This is going to affect so many people beyond the children who were involved here -- employees, customers, communities as a whole.”
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