One of the nicknames for New York City is “the city that never sleeps.” These days, that phrase could refer to the sleepless nights of New Yorkers who are worried about crime in their cities.
On Friday morning, 14-year-old Caleb Rijos was heading to school in the Bronx when someone stabbed him to death. The attack was unprovoked.
“‘He called his father and told his father that he couldn’t breathe and that he was scared, and his father heard him dying,’ Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said,” as amNY reports.
Police believe that the same individual who killed Rijos was responsible for a non-fatal stabbing in the Bronx earlier in the week.
“‘At this time, we believe the two incidents are connected and were committed by the same perpetrator,’ [Chief of Detectives Joseph] Kenny said during a Jan. 11 press conference at the 69th Precinct in Brooklyn,” amNY reports.
Officers arrested 29-year-old Waldo Mejia on Saturday, and as police perp-walked him, Mejia lashed out at reporters.
“I don’t know what y’all are doing here,” Mejia hissed at reporters who asked him why he killed the teen. “I am going to beat your a**es.”
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During a court hearing on Sunday, Mejia invoked Satan multiple times as he shouted out to the court. He had already reportedly told detectives that Satan instructed him to kill Rijos.
“I’m with Satan! Get ready to f**king suffer!” he interjected at one point in the hearing.
“Get ready to f**king suffer along with me,” he growled another time, adding, “I am going to snap your neck.”
“Mejia is charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon; he was also arranged attempted murder charges for a Jan. 5 incident in Mott Haven, during which he reportedly attacked a 38-year-old man walking down the stairs leading to the 3rd Avenue-East 138th Street subway station,” amNY reports.
“Mr. Mejia is a career criminal with four prior unsealed arrests. The most recent one occurred on Nov. 27, 2024, when Mr. Mejia was arrested for stabbing another victim’s ring camera with a kitchen knife, and importantly, was released on his own recognizance the very next day,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Saturday. “In 2019, Mr. Mejia was arrested for burglary and arson after lighting another victim’s residence on fire. And in 2017, he was found to be in possession of a 9 mm gun loaded with nine rounds, including one in the chamber.”
Christians often speak of the problems of our world in spiritual terms. Good and evil aren’t abstract terms, and the Apostle Paul tells us, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). Mejia is undoubtedly a disturbed man, and the evil in his heart combined with the mental health issues that plague him drove him to kill.
The trouble is that we can’t trust the justice system in New York City to keep him behind bars; that’s something we’ve seen time and time again. But hey, at least New York City is sticking it to people who drive through Manhattan — and the left can satisfyingly call Donald Trump a “convicted felon.” Priorities and all that.
