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A suspect has been charged with murder following a brutal attack at a Brooklyn subway station. On Wednesday, police arrested 25-year-old David Mazariegos, who faces charges including murder, robbery, and grand larceny for the death of 64-year-old Nicola Tanzi. The incident occurred at the Jay Street-MetroTech Station on Tuesday, where Mazariegos allegedly punched, kicked, and stomped on Tanzi in an unprovoked attack. According to law enforcement sources, Mazariegos confessed to the crime, stating he disliked the way Tanzi looked at him as he held a gate open for him.
Mazariegos, who has a history of 17 prior arrests, was apprehended in Times Square with a samurai sword and Tanzi's credit cards. FOX 5 NY reports that police used citywide alerts to quickly identify and arrest him. The attack, caught on MTA security cameras, showed Mazariegos assaulting Tanzi for ten minutes before fleeing the scene. Tanzi, a long-time Brooklyn resident and security worker, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch praised the NYPD's swift response, attributing the arrest to the department's domain awareness system, which sent photos of the suspect to officers' phones. ABC7NY noted that this was the fourth homicide in the subway system this year, with overall transit crime down 4.3% compared to last year.
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