Caught: Gary Correa, 20, has been arrested and charged in the August 18 stabbing death of George Carroll in Brooklyn
Police in New York City on Thursday captured a 20-year-old murder suspect accused of stabbing to death a Brooklyn man in front of his wife two weeks ago.
Gary Correa was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the August 18 killing of 42-year-old George Carroll near his home in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn.
Carroll was walking with his wife near a local park when he allegedly made eye contact and exchanged words with two men standing on a stoop.
The men chased the victim down the street and one of them, later identified by police as Correa, stabbed him in the chest.
Police carried out Correa’s arrest at 1pm on Thursday after he was spotted walking in the area of Norman Avenue and Guernsey Street, just a couple of blocks from the crime scene.
Correa was expected to be arraigned on Friday.
On August 18, Carroll had just left dinner with his wife, Christina Romero Carroll, around 9.30pm when they came across a group of people, including Correa.
The 20-year-old was identified as a suspect by NYPD after another man he was hanging out with showed up at the crime scene to pick up his car, which he left behind during the attack, the New York Daily News reported.
That man did not take part in the murder, according to the outlet.
George Carroll (pictured), 42, had just left dinner around 9.30pm when they came across a group of people, including Correa
His wife, Christina Romero Carroll, was with him at the time. She broke down in tears as she spoke about his death
Carroll and his wife were walking down Monitor Street in Greenpoint near the group who were hanging out around an SUV, Carroll’s wife told NBC 4 a few days after the deadly incident.
One of the men looked at her husband, they made eye contact and he spoke to him.
‘It’s basically “what are you looking at?” That was it,’ Romero Carroll recalled. ‘And my husband, he’s a Texan, he’s like “I’m…looking.”‘
She said the man then chased her husband, stabbed him, and took off in the SUV. Carroll was taken to Woodhull Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
‘Mr Carroll was walking down the street and just some eyes back and forth led to a dispute,’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
The 20-year-old has a long arrest record, police said, including 13 arrests for robbery, burglary and drug possession.
He was most recently arrested in May and was charged with robbery and grand larceny, NY Daily News reported.
Romero Carroll said one of the men looked at her husband and spoke to him. She said the man then chased her husband, stabbed him and took off in the SUV. Photos of the scene showed yellow police tape surrounding a bloody sidewalk
Carroll had just left dinner with his wife, Christina Romero Carroll, around 9.30pm when they came across a group of people hanging out around an SUV. Police said the incident took place near Msgr. McGoldrick Park (pictured) in Brooklyn
‘It’s still not registering… We had just seen an apartment — we were going to see two more apartments today. I can’t believe we’re talking about him in the past,’ said Christina Romero Carroll about her late husband.
The incident took place near Msgr. McGoldrick Park in Brooklyn.
Photos of the scene showed yellow police tape surrounding a bloody sidewalk.
Carroll was a writer and actor who was originally from Texas, his wife said. He moved to New York in 2001 and they recently moved from East New York to Greenpoint because they thought it would be safer, his wife told NBC.
Despite Greenpoint’s rapidly rising rents and high standard of living, residents of the neighborhood say that over at McGolrick Park, less than a block from where Carroll was stabbed, a growing homeless population and raucous youth are causing concerns.
‘There has been a group of older teens. They hang out by the schoolhouse or the park. I won’t go by them, whether it’s day or night,’ John Allens, a truck driver, told The New York Post.
Carroll (pictured with his wife on their wedding day) was a writer and actor who was originally from Texas, his wife said. He moved to New York in 2001 and they recently moved from East New York to Greenpoint because they thought it would be safer
‘They’re loud, they’re rowdy . . . Neighbors have been complaining, but nothing got done. Within the last few years, the surge of drugs in the neighborhood is incredible. You can smell the reefer everywhere.’
Danielle Pirhaly, 40, a dental assistant in New York City, described the kids who have taken over the park ‘young punks.’
‘They like to go and cause trouble. There are always fights here . . . They beat up a young kid, stuffed him in the garbage. They broke someone’s jaw,’ she claimed.