D’Angelo Caraballo
Introduction
D’Angelo Caraballo is a 25-year-old Dominican national who entered the United States illegally and was arrested October 7, 2026 as one of two suspects wanted for the attempted murder of off-duty NYPD Detective Jose Mercedes, who was stabbed seven times during a broad-daylight chain robbery in the Bronx on October 2. Caraballo and alleged accomplice Sneider Mejia, 24, were found hiding in the basement of a home in Lynn, Massachusetts, by NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force and taken into custody overnight; both are to be returned to New York City to face attempted murder charges . The Department of Homeland Security says both men entered the country illegally during the Biden administration and were repeatedly arrested in New York and released under the city’s sanctuary rules .
Background Information
Caraballo crossed the southern border near San Luis, Arizona, in February 2023 and was released into the country with a future court date, according to DHS information reported by Fox News and Breitbart News. Since then he accumulated five separate arrests in New York City β reckless driving and fleeing police, possession of burglar’s tools, drug possession, possession of a loaded firearm and, in July 2026, criminal menacing with a weapon β but ICE never filed a single immigration detainer on him; DHS said he was released so quickly after each arrest that federal authorities did not learn of them until he was already gone . Details of where he lived and worked in the city have not been made public. His alleged accomplice, Mejia, crossed at the same border crossing in December 2022 with his family, was released, and has been subject to deportation orders since May 2026; he was arrested by the NYPD twice in 2026 β for criminal possession of stolen property in January and criminal possession of a weapon in October β and an ICE detainer filed the day after the weapon arrest was ignored by the city .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not tried. Caraballo faces attempted murder charges stemming from the October 2, 2026 attack on Detective Mercedes. He was taken into custody October 7 and has not been arraigned, no plea has been entered, and nothing here is an adjudicated finding of guilt; the accounts below are allegations from police statements, prosecutors’ charges and news reporting, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Police say the attack unfolded in broad daylight on Friday, October 2, 2026, near Rochambeau Avenue and East 208th Street in the Norwood section of the Bronx, where the 33-year-old Mercedes β assigned to the 44th precinct β was off duty near his vehicle . Two men pulled up on a motorized e-bike, police said: surveillance video captured the driver, identified as Mejia, speeding down the sidewalk with Caraballo β the suspected stabber β sitting shirtless behind him . The pair allegedly attempted to rob the detective of his gold chain; Mercedes fought back, and was stabbed and slashed seven times in the torso and leg before the attackers fled with the chain, leaving him bleeding on the sidewalk .
Despite his wounds, investigators said, Mercedes chased the suspects on foot for several blocks before collapsing; the blade miraculously missed his vital organs, and he was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in critical condition and later listed as stable . He was discharged from the hospital on Monday, October 5. The NYPD released surveillance images of the pair as a manhunt intensified, and authorities identified the suspects publicly on Tuesday, October 6; DHS said both had entered the country illegally and that prior arrests had ended in releases under state sanctuary rules blocking cooperation with ICE . Overnight into Wednesday, October 7, NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force, assisted by the Boston Regional Fugitive Task Force, tracked the pair to a basement in Lynn, Massachusetts, about 15 miles from Boston, and took them into custody overnight .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The arrests drew statements from the top of the NYPD and the detective unions. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch β who days earlier had watched Mercedes rise from a wheelchair and walk out of Jacobi on his own feet before cheering hundreds of officers β said “the greatest detectives in the world will relentlessly pursue those responsible for this crime” . Detectives’ Endowment Association president Scott Munro said there was “nowhere to run and nowhere to hide” for those accused of attacking an NYPD detective, adding that the union “demands that the justice system hold these individuals fully accountable” . U.S. Marshal Ricky J. Patel, whose task force tracked the pair, said that when individuals commit violent acts against law enforcement “there is nowhere they can hide” . DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin framed the case politically, saying both 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 case landed amid Operation Rotten Apple, the 30-day ICE sweep that netted more than 2,100 arrests across New York, and months after a Biden-released Dominican national shot an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer in the face during a Manhattan park robbery .
Current Status
Caraballo is in custody in Massachusetts following his overnight arrest on October 7, 2026, and is to be returned to New York City to face attempted murder charges in the stabbing of Detective Mercedes; it was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney or when he will be arraigned . His alleged accomplice Mejia is in custody in the same case and faces the same return to New York, where his outstanding deportation orders β in place since May 2026 β await him alongside the criminal charges . Mercedes has been released from the hospital and continues his recovery. No plea has been entered and no trial date exists; this page will be updated as the case moves through court.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Before the October arrest Caraballo was, by DHS’s account, a five-time arrestee who had slipped through New York’s revolving door without a single ICE detainer; he now faces the most serious charge of his life β attempted murder of a police officer β in a case that has become a national flashpoint in the immigration debate, seized on by DHS as evidence for its argument against sanctuary rules and Biden-era border releases . Whatever the trial’s outcome, his ability to remain in the country is effectively foreclosed: a conviction would carry a substantial prison term, and even an acquittal would leave standing deportation orders and a documented arrest record. For the NYPD, the speed of the 120-hour manhunt β from stabbing to arrests in another state β was presented as a show of institutional resolve, with the department mobilizing hundreds of members for Mercedes’s hospital walkout .
Sources
- New York Post, “Migrants wanted for slashing NYPD detective found hiding in Massachusetts basement,” October 7, 2026 β source
- ABC7 New York (Eyewitness News), “2 arrested in stabbing of off-duty NYPD detective in Bronx,” October 7, 2026 β source
- Boston 25 News, “Two suspects sought in stabbing of off-duty NYPD detective arrested in Lynn,” October 7, 2026 β source
- NBC New York, “Men arrested in off-duty NYPD detective stabbing,” October 7, 2026 β source
- News 12 Bronx, “Suspects in stabbing of off-duty officer in the Bronx arrested in Massachusetts,” October 7, 2026 β source
- Breitbart News, “Two Biden Illegal Aliens Sought for Stabbing, Robbery of NYPD Detective Caught,” October 6, 2026 β source