Horrifying Footage Shows The Absolute Chaos In A Queens Train Car As A Man Stabs To Death Another Random Rider During Rush Hour

A 59-year-old Queens man was fatally stabbed aboard a packed rush-hour J train Wednesday afternoon in an attack police later called unprovoked, with horrified straphangers then chasing the suspect through the Woodhaven Boulevard station and out onto the streets until cops caught him on a nearby rooftop.

Mesias Lojano, of Corona, was stabbed multiple times in the upper body and neck around 5:20 p.m. as the southbound train approached the Woodhaven Boulevard station, according to the NYPD. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Surveillance and bystander video showed passengers pouring off the train in panic. A man in a black hoodie was seen leaving the station and crossing the street, with a group of riders immediately pointing him out and running after him along Jamaica Avenue and into the surrounding neighborhood. Witnesses told reporters the man eventually climbed onto a rooftop, where officers took him into custody. A kitchen knife was recovered at the scene.

Police identified the suspect as Jyrell Thomas, 25, of the South Bronx. He was charged Thursday with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Cops described him as emotionally disturbed and said he was taken to Jamaica Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation before arraignment in Queens Criminal Court. Thomas had one prior arrest for petit larceny in the Bronx in September, according to police.

Investigators said there was no prior interaction between the two men on the train and that the attack appeared random. Early accounts mentioned a possible argument that spilled onto the platform, but police later stated the stabbing was unprovoked.

Lojano lived less than a mile from the station. The killing was the sixth homicide on the subway system this year, according to reports. Riders interviewed after the attack said the violence left them uneasy about daily commutes, with one telling local media it was the kind of incident that makes people wonder whether they need to carry something for protection.

Northbound and southbound J trains bypassed the station while crime-scene officers worked the platform. Bloodied clothing and the knife were visible to arriving passengers and nearby store cameras that captured the chaotic exit and the foot chase that followed.