BRONX MAN INDICTED FOR MURDER OF 14-YEAR-OLD BOY WAITING FOR SCHOOL BUS; VICTIM WAS STABBED IN THE HEART

Defendant Also Indicted for Stabbing Man in Subway, Causing Life-Threatening Injuries 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Bronx man has been indicted for Murder and additional charges for allegedly stabbing a teen to death in a random act, just five days after he allegedly stabbed a man waiting for a subway train. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly committed two random, horrific acts of violence. He allegedly stabbed 14-year-old Caleb Rijos on his way to school, who used his last breath to try to speak to his father. Caleb’s death shocked and saddened the city. The defendant is also charged with cutting a man in the arm, severing an artery. We must do more to address underlying mental health issues and get services to people before they can harm others.” 

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Waldo Mejia, 29, last of 270 Alexander Avenue, was arraigned on second-degree Murder, first-degree Manslaughter, Attempted Murder in the second-degree, first-degree Assault, two counts of second-degree Assault, and two counts of fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Timothy Lewis. The defendant was remanded and is due back in court on August 18, 2026. The defendant was previously found mentally unfit to stand trial on March 20, 2025, however, was deemed restored to fitness on October 10, 2025. 

According to the investigation, on January 10, 2025, at approximately 10:00 a.m., the defendant approached Caleb Rijos, 14, who was waiting for a bus on Lincoln Avenue and 138th Street. Caleb was looking the other way when Mejia allegedly came up and stabbed him several times in the heart and lungs. The boy ran and collapsed on the street after calling his father on the phone for help. A good Samaritan flagged down an ambulance. Caleb died at NYC Health + Hospitals Lincoln.

Five days earlier, on January 5, 2025, at approximately 3:50 a.m., the defendant allegedly followed a 38-year-old man into the No. 6 train subway station at 138th Street and Alexander Avenue. In the stairwell of the station, the defendant allegedly stabbed the victim in the arm, with the knife severing his brachial artery, and entering his chest. The victim was admitted into intensive care and received multiple surgeries. 

District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Paulo Ruiz of the 40th Precinct Squad, Detective Patrick Curran of the Bronx Homicide Squad, Detective Eli Torres of the Bronx Robbery Squad, and Detective Brian Doyle of the Bronx Transit Crime Squad. 

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.