A person of interest has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of Brooklyn social justice activist Ryan Carson.
Carson, 32, was stabbed multiple times and died at a local hospital early Monday.
More than a dozen NYPD officers arrested 18-year-old Brian Dowling at his Bedford Stuyvesant home Thursday morning, not far from the crime scene.
Police found a knife and a black Champion sweatshirt in Dowling’s apartment.
“Assailant has been caught,” Carson’s father, Ken Carson, wrote on Facebook at 11:30 Thursday morning. Ken said he was on the road escorting his son’s body home to Massachusetts.
RELATED:Police searching for girlfriend of teenager who stabbed Brooklyn activist
Dowling was perp walked in front of news cameras outside the 81st precinct in Brooklyn on Thursday. Tears streamed down his face as he declined to answer questions from reporters.
Media outlets blurred Dowling’s face in their news coverage, but DailyMail.com and the New York Post did not censor his face.
Why is @CBSNews HIDING A KILLERS Face?…pic.twitter.com/9rNUldnKqb
— ??? (@Emilio2763) October 5, 2023
Dowling faces a first-degree murder charge. His friends expressed shock at the news of his arrest.
“He’s a nice guy. His family are good people …very respectful, a friend told a reporter.
Shocking video footage shows Dowling walking past Carson and his girlfriend Claudia V. Morales as they sat on a bus bench at Lafayette Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard around 3:50 a.m. Monday.
The couple stood up moments later and walked in the direction of the suspect who began kicking over scooters at the end of the block. Dowling is heard saying, “The f–k you looking at?” as Carson asked him to “chill out.”
Dowling yelled, “I’ll kill you n*gga!” before lunging at Carson who turned and tripped over the same bus bench he had been sitting on seconds earlier.
As Carson fell to the ground, Dowling allegedly stabbed him multiple times in the chest, piercing his heart with the knife.
Morales pleaded with Dowling to stop, but he spat in her face and kicked Carson who lay dying on the sidewalk.
A woman identified by police as Dowling’s girlfriend approached Morales and apologized for his random act of violence. “Go watch him. Go watch him,” Morales told the woman in a protective tone.
Police said Carson and Morales did not know Dowling.
Morales, who is a staunch Black Lives Matter activist and cop hater, reportedly refused to give police a description of the suspect.
A GoFundMe account raised over $60,000 for Morales and her friends and colleagues to take time off from work to grieve.
Watch the video below. CAUTION: This video contains graphic violence and may not be suitable for all viewers.
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Location: B38 Bus stop at Lafayette Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard, Brooklyn – New York ?
Victim: Ryan Carson (Male / 32)
Suspect: Unknown / No Arrest Made
Victim was stabbed multiple times; Fatal stab wound went through rib cage and punctured heart. Pronounced at Kings… pic.twitter.com/TVEFYJzOdp— Marshall ? (@UnbreakableMF) October 3, 2023
