The NYPD remains on the hunt for the 18-year-old suspect who stabbed a social justice worker to death on a New York street in an unprovoked attack in the early hours of Monday morning.
Ryan Carson, 32, was returning from a wedding with his girlfriend and waiting at a bus stop in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn when he encountered the 'emotionally disturbed' attacker who has so far only been identified as 'Brian.'
Surveillance video showed that after a brief interaction, Carson was tragically stabbed to death while his girlfriend watched on.
Shortly after 'Brian' leaves the scene, another woman enters the frame, pleading with the suspect to leave Carson alone.
Police have referred to that woman as 'Brian's' girlfriend. Prior to the encounter, the suspect had been acting erratically and kicking over scooters in the area.
The woman who has been identified as 'Brian's' girlfriend can be seen in the horrific stabbing video
Carson and his girlfriend Claudia had just attended a wedding and were on their way home
The two women have a brief inaudible interaction after the murder. Carson's girlfriend, Claudia Morales, tells the suspect's girlfriend: 'Go watch him,' in reference to 'Brian.'
'Brian' is enrolled in a return to work program in a school in Clinton Hill, which is located close to where the murder occurred. The search for him is centered around that neighborhood and Commodore Barry Park in the affluent Fort Greene-area.
It has since emerged that the suspect was arrested previously in 2022 for disorderly conduct and that this past August, he broke his partner's possessions during an argument in her home.
Following that incident, 'Brian's' aunt called 911 on him and referred to him as being 'emotionally disturbed,' reports ABC New York.
Authorities have confirmed that the attack was random and that Carson and 'Brian' had never met before.
Despite the senseless violence, friends of the 32-year-old say it wouldn't change his outlook on social justice.
'I know he would have wanted people to use his death as a means to talk about structural wrongs in the city.
The girlfriend can be seen in the stabbing video running to the scene just after the killing takes place
The girlfriend has an inaudible exchange with Carson's girlfriend who tells the unidentified woman to: 'Go watch him,' in reference to 'Brian'
'I'm absolutely positive that he would immediately see that this was a person who was suffering from a lack of resources in our community, who probably needs better mental health support, possibly housing, possibly drug support, drug treatment.
'What he would want to avenge his death is for us to fix how broken this city is,' New York State Assembly member Emily Gallagher told The Gothamist.
Carson worked for the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit where his work focused on environmental causes like reusable bottles.
He spearheaded other liberal causes, like creating supervised drug injection sites across the city.
Morales, according to now locked-down social media profiles, was an avid BLM activist who, among other remarks, used the cop-hating acronym ACAB in some posts.
Carson wasn't as forthright in his criticism of law enforcement but he shared the same concern for police brutality.
'The fact of the matter is I'm f*****g scared.'
'I spent this summer, like many of the past years of my life, watching people I care about get attacked by the police in the streets,' he said in an October 2020 interview about his poetry.
At the time writing, a GoFundMe page for Carson's family has raised over $63,000. The original goal of the page was $20,000.
Carson's roommate Vlad Miroshnikov told the New York Daily News that the victim's girlfriend had told them that the attacker was 'a kid... (He was) just marching down the street super, super upset about something, on a terror path. They just happened to be in that path.'
'He certainly wasn't an idealist, but he believed in the power of community organizing and just community more broadly, and helping his fellow neighbor and New Yorker out.'
More than 100 of Carson's friends came out for a vigil to celebrate his life on Monday night
The celebration of the activist's life was held across the street from his home in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn
Chuck Schumer paid tribute to Carson on Tuesday
Cohen went on to say that Carson began for focus on drug rehabilitation when his best friend died of an overdose.
Also in attendance at the vigil on Monday was State Assembly Member Emily Gallagher. She told News12 in an interview that the pair became close prior to her entering politics as the both had close friends who died from overdoses.
'It's on us to continue his legacy and to the opioid epidemic, to fight climate change, to fight to make New York City and New York state a better place, and we're gonna do the very best we can. If not as well as Ryan, the best we can to remember Ryan,' Cohen added.
'It breaks my heart to know how much he could've accomplished in the span of his life and it was just taken too soon,' friend and former colleague Jaqi Cohen told New York 1 at Monday night's vigil.
The memorial was held at Herbert Von King Park, across the street from his home. There were over 100 people in attendance.
'This not just a loss for us. This is a loss for all of New York,' Cohen also said of the climate and drug rehabilitation activist.
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