A teenage suspect has been arrested on the charge of murder with depraved indifference in connection with the stabbing of Brooklyn, New York, activist Ryan Carson, police sources told ABC News.
The suspect, 18-year-old Brian Dowling, was taken into custody earlier Thursday, sources said. He was also arrested on the charge of criminal possession of a weapon, sources said.
Detectives were searching Dowling’s home when he showed up, according to sources. They recovered the sweatshirt he appears to have been wearing in the surveillance images from the scene of the stabbing along with a knife that will now be tested to see if it matches the murder weapon, sources said.
He is being held at the NYPD’s 81st Precinct and is expected to appear in court later Thursday.
Social Justice Advocate Ryan Carson was killed while waiting for bus with his girlfrind, Brooklyn NY Oct. 3, 2023
Claire Donato
Carson, 31, died after being stabbed in the chest multiple times during the apparently unprovoked attack early Monday morning in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, police said.
Carson and his girlfriend were coming home from a wedding at the time.
The suspect walked past the couple while they were seated on a bench at a bus stop, police said. As the two then walked toward the suspect, he started to damage scooters and said to Carson, “What are you looking at?” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters during a press briefing Wednesday.
Ryan Carson and his girlfriend, seated, as well as the suspect are seen prior to the stabbing in this screengrab from a video that is part of the police investigation.
Obtained by ABC News
As Carson tried to de-escalate the situation, the suspect swung a knife at him, Kenny said. Carson backed up and tripped, falling to the ground. The suspect then stabbed him three times, with the knife piercing his heart, Kenny said.
Prior to the attack, the suspect was seen “acting agitated” while talking to a woman police believe to have been his girlfriend, Kenny said. Following the stabbing, the woman apologized to the couple and said the name Brian, Kenny said.
Police released this image of a suspect in connection with a fatal stabbing that occurred on Oct. 2, 2023.
NYPD
Police say the suspect in the stabbing was enrolled in a learn-to-work program at a school in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. He is said to have had prior summonses for disorderly conduct in 2022.
A day after the stabbing, the NYPD released a photo of a man sought in the case, and police were working to develop probable cause to make an arrest, Kenny said Wednesday.
Carson was a longtime campaign organizer for the New York Public Interest Research Group, a non-partisan political organization, focusing on waste policy. He also created the campaign No OD NY, which raised awareness for overdose prevention centers.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams called his murder “unthinkable,” and vowed that the NYPD “won’t rest until we bring him to justice.”