Muggers who stabbed off-duty Bronx NYPD detective identified as undocumented immigrants sought by DHS

The two attackers who stabbed an off-duty detective in the Bronx during a botched robbery have been identified as undocumented immigrants from the Dominican Republic with criminal records, adding fuel to the ongoing debate as to whether they should have been on the streets.

D’Angelo Carabello, 25, who has two pending weapons cases in the Bronx, and Sneider Mejia, 24, who was ordered deported last year, according to the feds, are wanted for stabbing and wounding Det. Jose Mercedes Friday afternoon, cops said.

Detectives believe that the two fled the city following the stabbing, police sources said.

The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that the two suspects were both caught entering the country illegally, but were released by the Biden Administration.

“Despite prior arrests in New York, sanctuary politicians refused to cooperate with ICE and released them,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “This horrific crime could have been prevented if it weren’t for Biden’s open borders and the ‘America Last’ policies of New York sanctuary politicians.”

Since last year, Caraballo has been arrested twice in the city, once for weapons possession and the other for menacing. Mejia has also been repeatedly arrested and was facing a deportation order filed by a federal judge, officials said.

Despite repeated arrests, the two were put back on the streets because a judge ordered them enrolled in a release program or the crimes they were accused of weren’t bail-eligible under New York’s bail reform laws, which were passed in 2019.

Under New York’s Sanctuary City Law, the NYPD is barred from assisting in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainment operations unless there is a warrant from a federal or state judge and the suspects have been convicted of one of 177 violent or serious crimes under city law. Neither Caraballo nor Mejia appear to have met those criteria.

An NYPD official added the department does not assist ICE in civil enforcement matters.

Mercedes, who is assigned to the 44th Precinct, was getting something from the trunk of his Mustang, parked on E. 208th St. near Steuben Ave. in Norwood, when two men crept up behind him and tried to steal his gold chain.

The robbery quickly turned physical. Mercedes, 33, was stabbed up to seven times before he chased after his attackers, who fled empty-handed on a bike.

Video obtained by the Daily News shows police assisting medics in lifting the wounded detective off the street, where blood can be seen pooling along the curb, and onto a gurney.

Medics rushed the victim to Jacobi Hospital, where Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Mamdani visited him. Mercedes was released from the hospital on Tuesday as scores of fellow cops cheered him on.

Cops released images of the two suspects and have asked the public’s help in locating them. Caraballo, police said, wasn’t wearing a shirt at the time of the attack.

Department of Homeland Security officials said Caraballo was arrested by Border Patrol agents when he entered the United States illegally through Arizona in February 2023 and was then released.

Last Oct. 26, Caraballo was charged in the Bronx with gun and ammunition possession after police found a loaded .380-caliber reddish-pink-colored handgun, tucked in his shoe as he sat in a Mercedes, which was illegally parked in front of a fire hydrant, according to a criminal complaint.

A prosecutor asked for $30,000 bail, but a Bronx Criminal Court judge ordered Caraballo released without bail and enrolled him in a supervised release program to ensure his return to court, a spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney said.

More recently, on July 10, he allegedly pulled a knife on another man, telling him “your hour has come,” according to a criminal complaint.

“Today is your last day,” the complaint read. “You’ve made it this far, motherf—er.”

Caraballo, charged with weapons possession, menacing, criminal mischief, and criminal trespass, was released. The arrest was not bail-eligible, the spokesman said. Neither case has been adjudicated.

Mejia, identified by DHS as Sneider Mejia Bautista, was nabbed by Border Patrol agents in Arizona in December 2022 and was also released, the agency said. He’s been arrested for numerous crimes, including in December 2024, when he was charged with possession of burglar’s tools, then released before ICE could lodge a retainer, DHS said.

On May 8, 2025, a federal judge signed a deportation order, DHS said, but when Mejia was busted for weapons possession last October, ICE filed a detainer “which was then declined by the NYPD.”

New York’s sanctuary city laws may play a role in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial and federal midterm elections. Earlier on Tuesday in upstate New York, several Republican lawmakers and candidates, including gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman, blasted Gov. Hochul’s sanctuary city policies after two illegal immigrants deported from the U.S. were arrested again in Westchester and Putnam Counties and released.

Between Jan. 20 and Dec. 1 of last year, New York released 6,947 criminal undocumented immigrants despite ICE requests to hold them, Lawler and others said.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Mejia and Caraballo is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.