Man shot dead on NYC subway as DA Bragg defends record in Arizona extradition battle: 'We are serious'

A 45-year-old man was shot dead on a Bronx subway early Friday morning as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg faces scrutiny for his lenient bail policies and woke Democratic prosecutors. 

A 911 caller reported that shots were fired at the 182-183rd St. Station around 5:02 a.m. on Friday, the New York Police Department told Fox News Digital. 

First responders found a 45-year-old man who had sustained a "puncture wound" to the torso while riding the southbound D train into the station. 

"Preliminarily, it was thought to be a gunshot wound but at this time it's still undetermined. It looks like some kind of injury to the torso," an officer with the department's Officer of the Deputy Commissioner Public Information office said. 

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A 45-year-old man was killed on a Bronx subway train on Friday - police have yet to identify a suspect in the early morning attack.  (Fox 5 New York)

The unidentified man was taken to St. Barnabus Hospital and pronounced dead a short time later, the representative said. 

As of 11 a.m., police had not identified a suspect in the deadly shooting. Police told Fox 5 that they are searching for 3 men who fled the subway station wearing all black at the time of the attack. 

Days earlier, five commuters were injured, and a 34-year-old man was killed in another Bronx subway shooting around 4:30 p.m. on Monday. 

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The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has yet to comment on the Friday morning shooting.  (Fox 5 New York)

DCPI told Fox News Digital that a 16-year-old suspect was arrested on Thursday in connection with the Monday shooting and charged with one count of murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count of criminal possession of a weapon. 

The Manhattan District Attorney's office did not return comment on the incidents at press time. The brazen daytime attacks come as the office has come under fire, with an Arizona District Attorney refusing to extradite a murder suspect there for fear of a "potential serial killer" being released onto the public. 

Raad Almansoori is accused of strangling Denisse Oleas-Arancibia in a SoHo hotel, then crushing her skull with an iron at a SoHo hotel two weeks ago. Surveillance footage shows him leave the building wearing her leggings. 

After fleeing to Arizona's Maricopa County, he was tracked down by police after allegedly stabbing a woman, stealing her car and stabbing another woman at a McDonald's before he was arrested by Scottsdale police. 

After his arrest, Almansoori allegedly told Scottsdale police to "Google the SoHo 54 hotel," the site where he allegedly killed Oleas-Arancibia. Authorities said he claimed to have hurt three more women in Florida.

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This photo provided by the Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Office shows Raad Almansoori, who is a suspect in the bludgeoning death of a woman in a New York City hotel and was charged Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, in connection with attacks on two women in Arizona’s largest county. Almansoori was formally charged with two counts each of attempted murder, aggravated assault and attempted sexual assault and one count of theft of means of transportation. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Months earlier, Almansoori was freed by Sumter County, Florida prosecutors on $2,500 and pending Grand Theft Auto charges after allegedly abducting female coworker Leah Palian, sexually assaulting her and threatening to kill her. 

Palian told Fox News Digital that Orlando-based prosecutors from the 9th Judicial District dropped sexual battery and assault charges against Almansoori despite warnings that he was a "potential serial killer." On Facebook, Palian faulted prosecutors for "callously" reducing his charges. 

Maricopa County District Attorney Rachel Mitchell told Fox & Friends that she could "guarantee that [Almansoori would] stay in custody [in Arizona]" rather than face his charges in New York for fear of another premature release. 

Denisse Oleas-Arancibia who was killed two weeks ago in a New York City hotel (Fox 5)

"Let me be very clear, my heart goes out to the next of kin of the victim in New York, [and] I'm not casting aspersions on the NYPD either … but we have a case here, and we have him in custody," Mitchell said on Thursday. 

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"It was just a couple of weeks ago that some of the illegal immigrants that were in New York City who beat up on police officers were let go," Mitchell said. "They were flipping the camera off as they walked out of jail, and guess where they ended up? 

"Four of them ended up in Maricopa County, and they had to be taken into custody here. I don't want that to happen. I don't want this individual getting out and able to victimize more people."

A Manhattan District Attorney's Office spokeswoman called Mitchell's comments "deeply disturbing," accusing her of "playing political games in a murder investigation." 

"In Manhattan, we are serious about New Yorkers' safety, which is why murders are down 24 percent and shootings are down 38 percent since DA Bragg took office," Emily Tuttle told The Arizona Republic

Bragg shot back directly at the Maricopa County District Attorney in a Thursday press conference, saying her decision was motivated by "old-fashioned grand standing and politics": 

"I've been a prosecutor for 20 years - that should have no place in our profession. it is deeply disturbing to me that a member of our profession... would choose to play political games in a murder case," Bragg said on Thursday, reiterating Tuttle's statistics. 

"Manhattan, my county, our murder rate is less than half that of Phoenix Arizona's," Bragg said. "In 2023, they had 198 criminal homicides. Here in Manhattan, we had 73."