The NYPD is pleading for the public’s help in locating the suspect who stabbed a 32-year-old social justice advocate in a cold-blooded murder that took place early Monday morning in Brooklyn.
Within hours of Ryan Carson’s tragic death in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of the city, his friends and colleagues had organized a candlelight vigil during which one person called his murder “unthinkable.”
As of Wednesday morning, there has still been no arrest in connection with the murder. Sources said CBS New York that no physical description of the subject exists, but witnesses have said he was “acting irrationally” before the murder. Video from Monday morning showed him kicking over scooters.
Carson was with his girlfriend after returning home from a wedding around 4am when they were approached by the ’emotionally disturbed’ killer. Gruesome video showed Carson trying to reason with the attacker, who repeatedly stabbed the Massachusetts native in the chest. His girlfriend was unharmed in the incident.
Carson’s roommate Vlad Miroshnikov related it the New York Daily News that the victim’s girlfriend had told them the attacker was ‘a kid’… (He was) just marching down the street, super upset about something, on a terror path. They just happened to be on that path.”
Ryan Carson returned home from a wedding – and his girlfriend Claudia posted a photo of them smiling together just hours before the tragedy. They wear the same outfits as in the security footage
More than 100 of Carson’s friends came out Monday night for a vigil to celebrate his life
The celebration of the activist’s life was held across the street from his home in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood
“This is not just a loss for us. This is a loss for all of New York,” friend Jaki Cohen also said of the climate and drug rehabilitation activist
Attending Monday’s vigil was State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, pictured here. She told News12 in an interview that the couple became close before she entered politics because they both had close friends who died of an overdose.
“It breaks my heart to know how much he could have accomplished in his life and that it was just too soon,” friend and former colleague Jaqi Cohen said. New York 1 during Monday evening’s vigil.
The memorial took place in Herbert Von King Park, across the street from his home. More than 100 people were present.
“This is not just a loss for us. This is a loss for all of New York,” Cohen also said of the climate and drug rehabilitation activist.
“He was certainly not an idealist, but he believed in the power of community organizing and just community more broadly, and helping his fellow neighbor and New Yorker.”
Cohen went on to say that Carson began focusing on rehab when his best friend died of an overdose.
Also present at Monday’s vigil was State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher. She said News12 in an interview that the pair became close before she entered politics because they both had close friends who died of an overdose.
“It’s up to us to continue his legacy and the opioid epidemic, fight climate change, fight to make New York City and New York State a better place, and we will do our very best. If it’s not as good as Ryan, then Ryan is best remembered,” Cohen added.
A note found on Carson’s phone and posted to X by his heartbroken girlfriend
Another friend, Acadia Cutschall, shared it the New York Post that she was present when Carson persuaded a man not to rob him.
‘I was there once when he literally talked a man out of robbing him. He gave him some money,” she said.
Of his killer, Cutcshall said: “He would probably help someone like that.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams also paid tribute in a post on X.
“Ryan Carson turned his passion into a purpose. He advocated tirelessly for others, and his giving spirit lifted all. His murder is unthinkable, and the NYPD will not rest until we bring him to justice. My prayers are for everyone who knew and loved Ryan.”
“Ryan Carson threw himself into everything he did with passion and humanity. May his memory and work inspire us,” Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said in a social media post.
Carson was an organizer of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
‘It’s incredibly tragic. A life full of promise is extinguished. And the world is a worse place for it,” Blair Horner, the group’s executive director, told me ABC New York.
In a separate interview with NBC New York. Horner said Carson was a “larger than life character.” He is very jovial and the charismatic staff loved him. His students loved him.”
Dressed in a suit, Carson returned home from a wedding – and his girlfriend Claudia posted a photo of them smiling together at the wedding, hours before the tragedy.
The suspect, who was wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt with his hood up, asked, “What the hell are you looking at?” before violently stabbing him in the chest.
The attacker can be heard saying, “I’ll kill you!” on camera as Carson pleads with him and raises his hand.
In the security footage, his girlfriend can be heard shouting, “Please, please, please!”
Ryan Carson, 32, was stabbed in the chest around 4 a.m. at a bus stop about a mile away at Lafayette Avenue and Malcom X Boulevard in Brooklyn. He returned home after attending a wedding
Carson falls over the couch he had been sitting on before the attacker knocked him to the ground and struck him several times with a knife.
He then spits on the girlfriend, kicks Carson’s body and storms off.
Then a woman who has not yet been identified appears and shouts at the attacker, “Don’t hurt him!”
It is believed this second woman knows the suspect and repeats the name Brian or Bryan.
She approaches Carson and says “I’m so sorry” as she warns his girlfriend to “Go check on him,” pointing to the alleged attacker. She then announces that she is calling 911.
According to sources, the suspect threw the gun in the trash but then went back to retrieve it.
Authorities recovered the victim’s glasses and two of his girlfriend’s books at the scene.
Carson’s girlfriend held him in her arms before he was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he later died.
The day after, she posted a screenshot of a note she found in his phone that read, “When you get right down to it, all I want to do is love Claudia more than I’ve ever loved her, and that’s honestly the only thing that she ever earned. ‘
She added the caption: “I found this note in Ryan’s phone. He did it, he did it, he did it.’
Anyone with information on the suspect in Carson’s murder is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS.