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On Thursday, October 22, 2026, a 17-year-old boy walked into the Midtown North Precinct in Manhattan with his lawyer and surrendered to the NYPD. Hours later, police charged him with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old Darrel Rodriguez, five days after Rodriguez was gunned down on a crowded subway platform in Midtown. The teen also faces charges of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a loaded weapon. Because he is a minor, police have not released his name, and he is being held in juvenile custody.
The shooting happened on Saturday, October 17, at about 12:21 p.m., on the northbound E train platform at the 7th Avenue–53rd Street station in Midtown Manhattan. Rodriguez was waiting for a train when a dispute broke out between him and the teenager; police said the two did not know each other before the encounter. The argument moved from the platform onto a subway car and back again, and the teen pulled a gun and shot Rodriguez once in the chest before fleeing north on Seventh Avenue. The Manhattan district attorney's complaint cites subway surveillance video showing the altercation and a gun pointed at Rodriguez, and detectives later found a 9mm shell casing inside the train car. Rodriguez was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
For five days the gunman was on the loose. The NYPD circulated surveillance photos of a suspect in a red-and-black outfit resembling the Marvel character Deadpool, dubbing him the "Deadpool" subway shooting suspect. The teen's attorney says he denies involvement in the shooting.
Rodriguez was a 26-year-old from the University Heights section of the Bronx. He worked as a security guard at the front desk of a Manhattan building and lived with his father, Tony, who had suffered a stroke and now struggled to speak. Neighbors and relatives described Darrel as a "beautiful kid" who had taken on caring for his ailing father; his aunt, Ana Pichardo, 61, said his two main commitments in life were the gym and work. He leaves behind two brothers, including a twin who serves in the military and lives in Texas.
His death marked the seventh murder in the New York City transit system this year and the fourth by gun, up from two over the same period in 2025, according to NYPD statistics — a tally that has renewed pressure over subway safety, with state-mandated cameras now on all cars and ongoing debates over face coverings and weapons bans on the system.