14-Year-Old Told Dad He Was ‘Scared’ & ‘Couldn’t Breathe’ Before He Died in ‘Unprovoked’ Stabbing

A father in New York City was on the phone with his 14-year-old son as he was dying. Caleb Rijos was walking to school in the Bronx on Friday morning, when a man allegedly stabbed him twice in a seemingly random and unprovoked attack. The boy tried to run away after the stabbing, but stumbled and fell in between two parked cars. A passerby hailed an ambulance, but Rijos died within six minutes while on his way to the hospital.

Family, friends, and community members are remembering Rijos as a great student and football player at the Bronx Leadership Academy. 

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Police took the suspect into custody hours after the attack.

Investigators identified 29-year-old Waldo Mejia as a suspect, WAGM TV reported. Police took Mejia into custody hours after he allegedly stabbed Rijos in the heart and lungs. Mejia had a bloody knife with him when police apprehended him, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a news conference the day after the stabbing. Tisch described Mejia as a “career criminal” with a history of mental health issues.

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Mejia has a violent criminal history.

Mejia has been arrested on four different occasions, including once for a stabbing in 2024. But this isn’t the only violent incident in his past. He was also the suspect in a stabbing that occurred on January 5, 2025, at the Third Avenue-138th Street subway station. He allegedly stabbed a 38-year-old man in the arm as he was walking down the subway stairs into the station. The victim survived, but his wound required several stitches.

'... it is unfathomable to think about the level of this tragedy,' the Bronx district attorney said.

Authorities were able to connect Mejia to both incidents after Rijos’ murder. Surveillance footage showed him leaving his home minutes before the attack on Rijos. Mejia lived near both scenes.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark recounted the last conversation Rijos had with his dad. “He called his father and told his father that he couldn’t breathe and that he was scared, and his father heard him dying. This murder is a singular — it is unfathomable to think about the level of this tragedy,” Clark said.

Tisch said this tragedy represents the flaws in the system.

Tisch used the case to discuss the systemic problems in mental health care and the justice system. “A 14-year-old boy is dead, a family is devastated, a city is in mourning and the systems that we have in place to deal with repeat offenders and individuals with severe mental health issues continue to fail us,” Tisch said.

Mejia was also arrested in 2019 for burglary and arson after allegedly setting a neighbor’s home on fire, ABC News reported. After the death of Rijos, he faces charges of murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.