{"id":373247,"date":"2026-10-14T20:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T20:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373247\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T20:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T20:44:12","slug":"off-duty-nypd-officer-knifed-in-bronx-mugging-identified-himself-as-cop-6-times-during-wild-attack-da","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373247\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-duty NYPD officer knifed in Bronx mugging identified himself as cop 6 times during wild attack: DA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The off-duty NYPD detective attacked by\u00a0two undocumented immigrants<\/a> during a Bronx robbery identified himself as a police officer at least six times \u2014 but the suspects continued to stab their victim repeatedly, prosecutors said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Two weeks after the Oct. 2 mugging, Det. Jose Mercedes still doesn\u2019t have the use of his left hand, Bronx Assistant District Attorney Paul Irace said as defendants Sneider Mejia and D\u2019Angelo Carabello were arraigned on attempted murder charges and ordered held without bail.<\/p>\n

As they fled to Massachusetts, Mejia, 24, and Carabello, 25, cut their hair and ditched their cellphones \u201cin an attempt to disguise themselves,\u201d Irace said. Police\u00a0ultimately found them <\/a>in a basement recording studio <\/a>in Lynn, Mass.<\/p>\n

Sneider and Carabello were charged with attempted murder in the commission of a robbery. Mejia was additionally charged with attempted murder of a police officer for allegedly wielding the knife, Irace said.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD officers and brass cheer on Oct. 5, 2026, as Det. Jose Mercedes, who was repeatedly stabbed during an attempted robbery in the Bronx while off-duty, was released from Jacobi Medical Center. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

As they were extradited to New York and were led out of the 52nd Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx on Tuesday, Carabello confessed to the crime to a row of awaiting reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did it to eat,\u201d he said. He also blurted out in Spanish, \u201cMommy, I\u2019m OK,\u201d before he was placed into an NYPD vehicle and taken away to court. Mejia simply said, \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything,\u201d before he, too, was put in a police car.<\/p>\n

Irace said both men were riding on a scooter when they encountered Mercedes rummaging in the trunk of his Mustang parked on E. 208th St. near Steuben Ave. and decided to ambush him.<\/p>\n

\"BloodBlood is pictured after an off-duty NYPD detective was stabbed and wounded during an attempted robbery at E. 208th St. and Stueben Ave. in the Bronx on Oct. 2, 2026. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

While Mejia brandished a knife and stabbed the detective several times, Carabello \u201cripped two chains\u201d from around his neck\u2014ultimately making off with one and dropping the other at the scene, Irace said. Throughout the ordeal, Mercedes identified himself as a police officer at least six times, according to Irance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs defendant Mejia was stabbing the victim, he was aiming towards his upper torso, towards his head, neck, and upper body,\u201d Irace said. Mercedes fought back and at one point grabbed both Mejia and Carabello, and \u201cbecause of his actions in trying to restrain them and having his arms up, most of the stab wounds he received were in his arms,\u201d Irace explained.<\/p>\n

Mercedes ran two blocks barefoot as he chased after the duo before finally collapsing from blood loss. He underwent surgery at a local Bronx hospital to repair the tendons in his left arm, and \u201cas we sit here today, almost two weeks later, he still did not have the use of his left hand,\u201d Irace said.<\/p>\n

NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force, with assistance from Boston authorities, found them hiding out<\/a> in Massachusetts on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate after an off-duty NYPD detective was stabbed and wounded during an attempted robbery near his car parked black Mustang (trunk open) at E. 208th St. and Stueben Ave. in the Bronx on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Both Mejia and Carabello, who appeared in court handcuffed and wearing tan jail scrubs, pleaded not guilty to the bloody robbery.<\/p>\n

The two\u00a0are undocumented immigrants from the Dominican Republic with arrest records in the United States, according to federal authorities.<\/p>\n

A federal judge ordered Mejia\u2019s deportation in May 2025, and he was arrested in October for weapons possession. Per the city\u2019s sanctuary laws, the NYPD did not alert federal immigration authorities following Mejia\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

Carabello has two open cases, including one arrest for gun possession and another for menacing a man with a knife.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite prior arrests in New York, sanctuary politicians refused to cooperate with ICE and released them,\u201d Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement last week about the two suspects. \u201cThis horrific crime could have been prevented if it weren\u2019t for Biden\u2019s open borders and the \u2018America Last\u2019 policies of New York sanctuary politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"D'AngeloD\u2019Angelo Carabello (far left in beige jumpsuit) and Sneider Mejia (center, beige jumpsuit) are pictured during their arraignments in Bronx Criminal Court on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (Roni Jacobson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Neither man spoke as they listened to the translated proceedings via headphones. As Mejia was led away in handcuffs he called out, \u201cMama! Mama! Mama!\u201d to a woman in the gallery sitting with four other family members.<\/p>\n

Their next court appearance is Dec. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The off-duty NYPD detective attacked by\u00a0two undocumented immigrants during a Bronx robbery identified himself as a police officer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-373247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}