On Saturday, the police released photos of two individuals suspected of being involved in the tragic stabbing of a 17-year-old boy, just a few blocks away from his home in Queens.
Officials reported that Josue Argudo was on his way back from school around 3:45 p.m. on Friday when a group of teenagers assaulted him near Jamaica Avenue and 76th Street in Woodhaven.
Although Argudo attempted to flee, his masked assailants pursued him, and one eventually caught up, delivering a fatal stab wound to his neck, as captured by witness accounts and surveillance footage obtained by the Daily News.
Witness Patricia Ammirati described the horrifying scene on Friday, stating, “He was running after him and then they started to fight. It seemed like he was punching, but he had something in his hand. His face was completely covered. You couldn’t see who he was.”
Despite being injured, Argudo tried to distance himself from the attacker but was unable to continue and collapsed onto the sidewalk.
“Then he just slumped over,” Ammirati recounted, having observed the incident from her window. “The one who stabbed him casually crossed the street with another youth wearing a red sweatshirt, as if nothing had happened.”
EMS rushed Argudo to Jamaica Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
Video obtained by the Daily News shows one teen, who’s holding something in his right hand, chasing another teen down 76th St. and striking him with it several times, including around the head and chest and in the neck.
The two boys then appear to talk to each other, before the attacker, dressed in black and wearing a mask and hood, walks off.
Another video then shows the teen victim slump down onto the sidewalk on 76th St.
Christopher Garcia, 29, was out for a walk when he spotted a good Samaritan attempting to revive Argudo, who appeared lifeless on the sidewalk.
“I saw him on his back,” Garcia, a ride-share driver, told The News. “He was splayed out on the sidewalk. There was blood splashed all over his pants. I didn’t see any life on him. He was totally stiff. No twitch, nothing.”
“People started doing CPR,” Garcia said. “He had already passed on even before the ambulance got here. There was no life.”
A backpack surrounded by first responders’ latex gloves and other medical waste was spotted at the crime scene Friday night.
Argudo lives in Woodhaven, about three blocks from where he was attacked.
Cops scouring the area for surveillance footage caught images of two of the attackers without their masks.
One is described as Black wearing all black clothing and white Beats headphones. The second is light-skinned, possibly Hispanic, and was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, white sneakers and carrying a black cross-body bag in his right hand.
While shootings and murders dropped dramatically in the city last year, youth on youth violence was on the increase, the NYPD said this week.
During a press conference at NYPD headquarters on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that 14% of last year’s shooting victims, or 96 victims, were under 18, which is a 5% increase from last year.
Saving city youths from violence going forward will be an “all of city” and “all of state” approach involving multiple agencies going forward, she said.
Anyone with information regarding their whereabouts is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
With Kerry Burke
