A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for shooting a man to death as they quarreled in a Midtown Manhattan subway station, police said Thursday.
The teen suspect, who has no criminal history, surrendered with his lawyer early Thursday, police said.
He was charged with murder and gun possession in the shooting death of 26-year-old Darrel Rodriguez last Saturday afternoon on the uptown E train platform at the Seventh Ave. station at W. 53rd St. The suspect’s name was not released because he is underage.
Investigators believe the teen was smoking marijuana on the train when Rodriguez confronted him about it, sparking an argument that escalated into the fatal shooting, ABC7 New York reported.
The shooting sparked an intense manhunt, with the NYPD releasing surveillance footage of the suspect and asking the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down.
NYPD
Police released this image of a suspect after a man was fatally shot on the northbound E train platform of the Seventh Ave. subway station at 53rd St. in Manhattan on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (NYPD)
The victim and his killer got into a quarrel that spilled back and forth from the platform onto a train.
The shooter, clad in a distinctive red outfit, then shot Rodriguez in the chest and ran off.
Rodriguez, a security guard heading home from his job, was rushed by medics to Bellevue Hospital but could not be saved.