The harrowing final words of a hardworking Guatemalan immigrant — “I don’t want to die!” — targeted in a random, savage act of violence were among the last his killer heard before being sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday.
Luis Gil, 21, was hit with the term in Manhattan Supreme Court by Justice Cori Weston after Gil pleaded guilty in October to one count of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Hugo Rene Morales Maxia on July 13, 2023, near the West Side’s Pier 84 between the Circle Line terminal and the USS Intrepid.
Gil would later tell police he was angry about being rejected by a woman he was interested in romantically, and took his rage out on Morales, a total stranger, who had just laid his head down to rest on a bench by the river, with his entire life’s belongings in tow in a backpack.
Before Weston sentenced Gil, Assistant District Attorney Sarah Khan said she wanted Gil to know what a frightened Morales told cops who responded to the scene after the attacker fled.
“’I don’t want to die!’” the prosecutor quoted Morales.
stabbing
Obtained by Daily News
Hugo Morales, 35, was stabbed to death on July 13, 2023, at Pier 84, on the West Side of Manhattan. (Obtained by Daily News)
Morales, 35, had been chipping away at the American dream for some 16 years, saving his earnings from work as a chef and construction jobs to build a worthy home for his parents in the Guatemalan highlands, his loved ones told the Daily News in 2023.
In the hours before his senseless slaying, Gil, who was just 19 at the time and did not know Morales, worked himself up into a rage over a woman who had rejected him and vowed to stab the next man he saw, The News previously reported.
The unsuspecting Morales lay down on a bench close to where Gil was sitting with a group of friends, and ignored Gil when he approached and started pestering him by putting his bag by Morales’s feet and walking atop the bench, Gil admitted as part of his plea.
During the encounter, the angry Bronx teen, then living at Covenant House, which provides support to homeless youth, slid a knife out of his backpack and hid it in his shorts. He took it out a few minutes later to ram one fatal blow through Morales’s chest, according to court documents.
Morales, who was at the time living in West New York, N.J., was rushed to Morningside Hospital, but he could not be saved. Gil fled the state on an Amtrak train and was arrested days later at a station in Chicago.
“Hugo Morales was lying on a park bench one summer morning on Pier 84 when Luis Gil fatally stabbed him without provocation, tragically cutting his life short,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Thursday.
“While nothing can bring Mr. Morales back, I hope this guilty plea and lengthy prison sentence can serve as a measure of comfort and closure to his loved ones who continue to mourn his loss.”
Barry Williams for New York Daily News
Luis Gil, 19, is pictured in police custody outside the Midtown North Precinct stationhouse on July 28, 2023. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
In a 2023 interview, Oscar Morales, a childhood friend of the victim who remained close to him, told The News about their inseparable days as kids, recalling precious memories of crabbing, swimming and biking together.
“Hugo’s grandfather had land and a cow, fruit growing there and we would go get fruit,” he said. “We used to enjoy life the most we could.”
Oscar said he followed his friend to the U.S. about a year after Morales left their hometown in pursuit of better opportunities, and that Morales had worked tirelessly to achieve his dream.
“He wanted a comfortable life for his mother,” Oscar said. “He wanted to come here, get money together, work — then go back and be with his family.”
The murder victim’s journey in pursuit of a better life for his parents was a lonely one, his friend said. Morales went 16 years without seeing his family and had a little sister he never got to meet.
“Hugo was alone here. He didn’t have any family here,” Morales said. “He only had his family back in Guatemala.”