Authorities have apprehended a 17-year-old boy linked to the savage killing of a migrant teenager in Lower Manhattan last year, police announced.
The victim, 17-year-old Yeremi Colino, was fatally stabbed on December 5, 2024, outside 17 John St. in the Financial District. Initially suspected to be a hate crime, investigators later determined the violent clash stemmed from a gang dispute.
The teenage suspect, whose identity is being withheld due to his age, was taken into custody on March 26 at the 1st Precinct. He faces charges of murder, gang assault, and assault. This arrest follows that of a 16-year-old, nabbed in December for gang assault in connection to the same incident.
Colino wasn’t the only casualty of the brutal confrontation. An 18-year-old also suffered a stab wound to his left arm and received treatment at Bellevue Hospital.
According to police, the chaos erupted when one group of teens flashed gang signs at a rival group, sparking the deadly encounter. “Both sides were armed. The victim, Colino, swung an unidentified object downward just before one of the attackers stabbed him,” explained NYPD Assistant Chief of Detectives Jason Savino shortly after the incident.
A Walgreens worker heroically tried to save Colino by dragging him into the store, where he lay bleeding with the knife still lodged in his chest. Despite the effort, his wounds proved fatal.
Savino noted a deeper motive: “The Los Diablos crew from 42nd Street swore retaliation over this. There’s clearly a gang rivalry fueling this violence.”
A 23-year-old bystander, Javier Pau, witnessed the grim aftermath. “I caught it maybe 20 seconds after it went down,” he recalled. “It looked like they were stabbing and moving, and then I saw the kid—he was drenched in blood.”
