Man charged in deadly Manhattan stabbing spree was released on NJ bail reform law

🚨 Man charged with three counts of first-degree murder

🚨 He has been arrested and released multiple times this year

🚨 Blood was found on his clothes, authorities said

NEW YORK — Officials are questioning why a man charged with three fatal stabbings in Manhattan was allowed back on the street after multiple arrests in New Jersey and New York earlier this year.

Ramon Rivera, 51, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the deadly attacks on Monday, authorities said.

“Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Investigators were working to understand what propelled the rampage, which happened within 2.5 hours Monday.

“No words exchanged. No property taken. Just attacked, viciously,” said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives. “He just walked up to them and began to attack them with the knives."

A message seeking comment was left with an attorney who represented him in a prior case, the Associated Press reported.

Suspect had been arrested and released in New Jersey

Rivera had been arrested in New Jersey earlier this year, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

Court documents showed Rivera was arrested in Hoboken on Jan. 17, 2024. He was indicted by a grand jury on three charges including burglary, theft, and criminal mischief.

Rivera was released on pretrial monitoring under New Jersey's bail reform law, spokesperson Caitlin Mota said.

Bench warrants were issued by the court after Rivera failed to appear in court, Mota said.

Prior arrests in New York City

NBC4 New York reported that Rivera had also been arrested in New York City eight times within the past year. Seven of those arrests were on felony charges. He was also arrested in Ohio and Florida.

According to the report, city records showed Rivera was released from custody on Oct. 17. Later that same day, he was accused of stealing from a store in Manhattan.

Rivera was out on bail at the time of Monday's deadly stabbing, the report said.

Blood found on clothes and knives

The first stabbing, on West 19th Street, killed a 36-year-old construction worker, Angel Lata Landi, who was standing by his work site near the Hudson River a little before 8:30 a.m., police said. About two hours later and across the island of Manhattan, a 68-year-old man was attacked while fishing in the East River near East 30th Street.

Both men died shortly after the stabbings, Kenny said. The fisherman's name was not immediately released.

The suspect then apparently traveled north near the riverfront. Around 10:55 a.m., a 36-year-old woman identified as Wilma Augustin was stabbed multiple times near the United Nations headquarters on East 42nd Street, Kenny said. She died later Monday at a hospital, police said.

A passing cab driver saw the third attack and alerted police on nearby First Avenue and East 46th Street, officials said. An officer soon apprehended the suspect.

Adams, a Democrat, called Monday’s violence “a clear, clear example” of failures in the criminal justice system and elsewhere.

(Includes material copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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