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Migrant who stabbed fellow asylum-seeker to death at NYC tent shelter asked security guard to let him ‘finish the job’: prosecutors
A migrant accused of brutally stabbing a fellow asylum seeker to death New York tent shelter allegedly asked security guards to let him “finish the job” in coldblooded comments after the attack, pr…
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Migrant who stabbed fellow asylum-seeker to death at NYC tent shelter asked security guard to let him ‘finish the job’: prosecutors
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Published Jan. 30, 2024, 6:12 p.m. ET
A migrant accused of brutally stabbing a fellow asylum seeker to death New York tent shelter allegedly asked security guards to let him “finish the job” in coldblooded comments after the attack, prosecutors said at his arraignment on Tuesday.
Moises Coronado, 27, allegedly told security guards at the Randall’s Island shelter that he stabbed Dafren Canizalez, 35, multiple times because “he needed to get revenge,” prosecutor Pierre Griffith told a New York Jury.
Coronado “made statements indicating that he was not a punk and that because the deceased had punched him earlier he needed to get revenge and he even asked the security guards to let him go so that he could go and finish the job,” Griffith said of the deadly Jan. 6 attack.
The suspect pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder and is facing 15 years-to-life in prison in the slaying.
The beef was sparked when Coronado allegedly made comments about Canizalez’s girlfriend and started a fight, prosecutors allege.
Canizalez allegedly threatened Coronado with a knife, and in response Coronado grabbed a 5-inch knife from his room, according to the allegations. He and two other men, Ferneys Horta, 33, and Anthony Navas, 27, then confronted Canizalez in the cafeteria, and Canizalez punched Coronado in the face in a brief scuffle.
4 Moises Coronado pleaded not guilty to murdering Dafren Canizalez earlier this month. Steven Hirsch
Coronado, Horta and Navas then chased down Canizalez with their knives drawn, with unarmed security guards only able to tell him to run before his attackers cornered him in a doorway, prosecutors said. Coronado then stabbed him multiple times in the chest before he was detained, according to the charges.
Canizalez was taken to the hospital but he died from his wounds.
Griffith said that Coronado, a Venezuela native, entered the country through Texas and was detained in November before making his way to New York City.
4 Ferneys Horta entered the courtroom on crutches after his lawyer said he fell in jail. Steven Hirsch
He’s being held without bail and is due back in court on March 26.
Horta and Navas were also arraigned on Tuesday for their involvement in the stabbing.
Horta, originally from Colombia, entered the courtroom in crutches after he suffered a fall while being held in jail, his attorney said. He pleaded not guilty to first degree manslaughter.
Prosecutors said when Horta was initially questioned he admitted to being in the cafeteria at the time of the altercation but claimed he didn’t see anyone with a knife.
Video taken just moments after stabbing allegedly shows Horta going back into his tent and changing all of his clothes to avoid being identified.
4 Anthony Navas chased down Canizalez before Coronado stabbed him to death. Steven Hirsch
He also entered the US through Texas in November, according to prosecutors.
His bail was set at $500,000 insurance bond, $250,000 cash, $500,000 partial secured surety, the judge ruled. Horta is due back in court on March 26.
Navas, of Ecuador, pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter in the first degree and gang assault in the first degree.
4 Dafren Alexis Canizales was stabbed to death on Jan. 6.
His attorney, Jamie Niskanen-Singer, requested that he be released and electronically monitored — which the Judge Ann Scherzer scoffed at.
“How can your client have electronic monitoring and he doesn’t have any community ties? It’s for a person who has a home or a family they can stay with. Your client doesn’t have that so how can you even suggest that?” she asked the lawyer.
Navas’ bail was set at $500,000 insurance bond, $250,000 cash, $500,000 partial secured surety. His next court appearance is on March 26.