Husband is fatally stabbed by ‘disturbed man’ in front of his wife, who frantically tried to fend off the attacker before he fled
- Nathaniel Rivers, 35, was stabbed in the chest by 19-year-old Franklin Mesa
- Rivers had just parked his car on a Bronx street moments before the ambush
- Police said the pair had exchanged words before the deadly attack
- The victim’s wife grabbed a pry bar to fight the suspect, but he ran away
- Rivers was rushed to the hospital where he later died
- Mesa was described as a menace and ‘schizophrenic, cops said
- Police arrested the suspect who was charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon
A man parking his car in The Bronx was stabbed to death in broad daylight as his wife tried to fend off the crazed attacker.
The victim, identified as Nathaniel Rivers, 35, was stabbed in the chest by 19-year-old Franklin Mesa on Thursday at 1:15 p.m. on East 205 Street and Decatur Avenue in Norwood.
Rivers had just parked his car when Mesa approached him and the pair began exchanging words before the man suddenly attacked the father of one, according to police and neighbors, The New York Post reported.
Rivers’ wife tried to protect her husband by grabbing a pry bar and hitting Mesa with it, but the man got away, police said.
Nathaniel Rivers, 35, (pictured left) with his son and wife, was stabbed in the chest by 19-year-old Franklin Mesa and died in a fatal attack that took place in the Norwood section of The Bronx on Thursday afternoon
The suspect, who lives down the block from where the deadly attack took place, was later arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
Police said they don’t know what was said before the brutal murder.
The victim was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital where he later died.
Police are on the scene at East 205 Street and Decatur Avenue in Norwood where the brutal attack occurred at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday
The knife Franklin Mesa, 19, used when he plunged it into River’s chest killing him
Mesa, who is from the Norwood section of the Bronx, was described as schizophrenic by neighbors and relatives, who would often taunt residents.
Police said the two men had known one another from the neighborhood, but did not have any history together.
Before Thursday’s fatal attack, the suspect had one prior arrest from 2021, for punching someone twice in the face, a report said.
Rivers was a beloved member of the community and neighbors were grief stricken.
One neighbor said Rivers, who has an 11-year-old son, was a father figure to all the kids in the neighborhood.
She said ‘he was the best person in the world’ and ‘everybody’s best friend.’
Neighbors console one another after the grisly attack in broad daylight on Thursday
Mesa’s sister, who did not want to be identified, said her brother has ‘mental problems and is schizophrenic,’ The Post reported.
She said he has been on medication since he was a teen, but wasn’t sure if he’d taken his meds before the violent killing.
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