Two Dominican Nationals Charged in NYPD Detective Stabbing Arrested in Massachusetts

Two men the Department of Homeland Security identified as illegal aliens from the Dominican Republic were arrested Wednesday in a Lynn, Massachusetts, basement, a day after the department named them as suspects in the stabbing of an off-duty New York police detective.

NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force found D’Angelo Caraballo and Sneider Mejia overnight in Lynn, about 15 miles from Boston, NBC New York reported. The Boston task force assisted. It was not immediately clear whether either man had a lawyer or when they would be returned to New York.

The attack was Friday, Oct. 2, in Norwood in the Bronx. Detective Jose Mercedes, 33, was at the trunk of his car near East 208th Street and Steuben Avenue around 2 p.m. when two men on an e-bike tried to take his gold chain, police sources told the New York Daily News and the New York Post. He fought them. He was stabbed as many as seven times in the neck, torso, and leg, chased the pair about two blocks toward Rochambeau Avenue, and collapsed. The suspects left without the chain. Mercedes was treated at Jacobi Medical Center and released Monday. Police said he is expected to recover.

Homeland Security named the suspects Tuesday as Dangelo Rafael Jean Caraballo and Sneider Mejia Bautista. The Daily News and the Post put Caraballo at 25 and Mejia at 24. Both crossed near San Luis, Arizona, and were released under the Biden administration, the department said. Mejia and his family were stopped by Border Patrol in December 2022 and released. Caraballo was detained in the same area in February 2023, released with a court date, and did not appear, the Post reported. The Daily News said Mejia was ordered deported last year.

Caraballo’s New York record, according to DHS, includes arrests for reckless endangerment, reckless driving, fleeing a police officer, possession of burglar’s tools, criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, and second-degree menacing with a weapon. After a December 2024 arrest for burglar’s tools, local authorities released him before ICE could file a detainer. The Post, citing sources, also reported a July menacing case in which he allegedly threatened to stab a person who rented him a room, and a 2025 gun case involving a loaded .380 Taurus. The Daily News said he has two pending weapons cases in the Bronx. Those cases have not been adjudicated.

Bautista’s record includes arrests for criminal possession of stolen property, burglar’s tools, grand larceny, and criminal possession of a weapon, DHS said. After an October 2025 weapons arrest, ICE lodged a detainer. The NYPD declined it. On his other arrests, local authorities released him before a detainer could be filed.

“These illegal aliens from the Dominican Republic are suspects in the stabbing and attempted robbery of an off-duty NYPD detective,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday, while both men were still at large. “Both of these suspects were released into the country by the Biden administration, and despite multiple prior arrests in New York, sanctuary politicians refused to cooperate with ICE and released them.”

The DHS statement went out before the Massachusetts arrest. The charges they will face in New York had not been listed Wednesday afternoon. The detective is out of the hospital.