A Bronx man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Hugo Morales during an unprovoked attack on Pier 84 in Hudson River Park in the summer of 2023 — a crime that initially prompted a citywide manhunt for multiple suspects.
Luis Gil, 19, is walked from the Midtown North precinct on July 28, 2023. Photo: Barry Williams for New York Daily News
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that 21-year-old Luis Gil admitted to killing Morales in the early morning hours of July 13, 2023, after approaching him without provocation. Gil is expected to be sentenced on January 14, 2026, to 18 years to life in state prison.
When police first responded to the scene just after 6am, witnesses reported seeing a group of men running east along W44th Street, and the NYPD released photos of five individuals wanted for questioning. Detectives later determined that Gil had acted alone, and within days he was tracked across state lines after boarding an Amtrak train to Chicago, where he was arrested on July 17 with the assistance of Amtrak and Chicago Police.
Pier 84 was closed for the day as police conducted their investigation of the fatal stabbing. Photo: Catie Savage
According to court documents and statements made in court, Gil had been sitting on a patch of grass at the West Side pier with friends when Morales lay down on a nearby bench. Gil began to harass him — standing over him, placing his bag near Morales’s feet, and walking on the bench. When Morales didn’t respond, Gil pulled a knife from his backpack, briefly walked away, then returned and stabbed Morales once in the chest before fleeing.
Morales, a 33-year-old who immigrated from Guatemala, was taken to Morningside Hospital where he later died from his injuries. (At the time of the incident, NYPD reported Morales’s age as 35.)
Hugo René Morales, 33, a Guatemalan immigrant, was stabbed to death at Pier 84 in Manhattan. Photo: New York Daily News
“Today, Luis Gil is facing accountability for fatally stabbing 33-year-old Hugo Morales in an unprovoked attack on Pier 84,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg in announcing the plea. “Mr. Morales immigrated to America with the hopes of earning enough money to eventually build his mother a house in Guatemala. My thoughts are with Mr Morales’s loved ones as they continue to mourn his tragic loss.”