An undocumented immigrant accused of repeatedly stabbing an off-duty NYPD detective during a botched robbery in the Bronx told reporters, “I did it to eat.”
Speaking outside the 52nd Precinct on Tuesday, D’Angelo Carabello also blurted in Spanish, “Mommy, I’m OK,” before he was placed into an NYPD vehicle and taken away to court.
Carabello’s alleged accomplice, Sneider Mejia, said simply, “I didn’t do anything,” before he, too, was put in a police car.
Carabello, 25, and Sneider Mejia, 24, were arrested in Lynn, Mass., on Oct. 6 by NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force, with assistance from Boston authorities, NYPD officials said. The pair are awaiting arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court.
Officers found the fugitives “cowering in a basement,” said Scott Munro, president of the Detectives Endowment Association.
The duo ambushed Det. Jose Mercedes of the 44th Precinct, who was off-duty at the time, on Oct. 2 as he was rummaging through the trunk of his Mustang parked on E. 208th St. near Steuben Ave. in Norwood, cops said.
In an attempt to steal Mercedes’ gold chain, the suspects stabbed him seven times as the lawman put up a fight. The wounded detective then chased the pair for about two blocks before collapsing.
“He got stabbed, and he was chasing the guy,” said a witness, who asked that his name be withheld. “He chased the guy, and that’s where he collapsed, in front of the building where I was sitting. We know him from the neighborhood, so we know he’s a cop.”
The suspects fled empty-handed.
Both suspects are undocumented immigrants from the Dominican Republic with arrest records in the United States, according to federal authorities.
“Despite prior arrests in New York, sanctuary politicians refused to cooperate with ICE and released them,” Department of Homeland Security 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.”
A federal judge ordered Mejia’s deportation in May 2025, and he was arrested in October for weapons possession.
Per the city’s sanctuary laws, the NYPD did not alert federal immigration authorities following Mejia’s arrest.
Carabello has two open cases, including one arrest for gun possession and another for menacing a man with a knife.
The NYPD previously released surveillance footage of the two suspects and asked the public’s help in locating them. Caraballo, police said, wasn’t wearing a shirt at the time of the attack.