The Brooklyn teen who stabbed to death a young father of two in Times Square and injured two others in Midtown has been indicted on a list of charges, including murder, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said on Monday.
Jayden Sanchez, 17, was indicted in state Supreme Court for allegedly murdering 39-year-old Leonides Baez near 132 West 43rd St., just steps away from the Stephen Sondheim Theater and the National Debt Clock on May 4, following an argument that was captured on video cameras at the location. He was also indicted for stabbing two other people in separate incidents in Midtown in April and May.
He’s charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree robbery.
“As alleged, Jayden Sanchez brutally murdered Leonides Baez in the heart of Times Square, abruptly ending his life. Additionally, he allegedly stabbed two others and robbed a newsstand in a spate of violent incidents,” Bragg said. “This alleged conduct is abhorrent. My thoughts are with Mr. Baez’s loved ones who are mourning his tragic loss.”
Sanchez did not act alone in the crimes; he had two other accomplices.
Murder victim Baez was sleeping on a ledge in a breezeway between West 42nd Street and West 43rd Street when Sanchez and two others came up to him and began to harass him, court papers described.
One of the suspects grabbed Baez’s bag and threw it on his head, waking him up. The trio walked around the corner and each of them urinated in a cup. Sanchez then gestured to Baez, who was still lying on the ledge, to approach them, according to court documents.
When Baez jogged toward them, one of the suspects threw a cup of urine at him, sending the victim running back toward his belongings. The defendant then whipped out an 8-inch blade from his vest, chased Baez, grabbed his arm before turning him around and stabbing him in the heart.
The attackers fled the scene before officers from Midtown South arrived; EMS rushed Baez to Bellevue, where he was pronounced dead.
Baez’s sister, Catalina, recently spoke about her brother’s life after his tragic death. She said he was on a cross-country trip from Massachusetts to Florida when the horrific incident took place.
“He was a free guy, he was a wanderer,” she said in an amNewYork article. “He was living his Bob Marley life. He was making his way to Florida, he just wanted to put his feet in the ocean.”
Meanwhile, on April 7, before Baez was killed, Sanchez and his accomplices were in a souvenir shop on W. 40th Street when they began throwing merchandise around the store. When they returned to the shop later that day, two workers asked them to leave before the defendant stabbed one of the workers in the hand, according to court documents.
The three suspects allegedly went to a Midtown newsstand to steal merchandise and cash on May 3, when Sanchez stole a cash box containing “several hundred dollars,” the DA’s office reported.
The group returned later, threw a bottle through the newsstand’s glass window, shattering it. As the owner and workers at the stand worked on fixing the damage, Sanchez returned and was held while the workers called the police. However, he broke free and stabbed one of them in the chest.
Sanchez was ultimately arrested when he was spotted hopping a turnstile in Brooklyn on May 6.
With reporting by Dean Moses
