By The Diary
20 Aug 2024, 08:47 AM EDT
Melvin Gómez Núñez was stabbed to death during an early morning street confrontation that also left two men injured in Brooklyn (NYC).
It’s unclear what motivated the fight that broke out in Sunset Park around 7:20 a.m. Sunday or the possible link between the victims. Police responding to a 911 call found Gomez Nunez (42) and a 30-year-old man stabbed multiple times near 50th St. and Fourth Ave. Both were rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where the elder died. The other victim was in stable condition, according to the NYPD.
A third victim, a 38-year-old man, was later admitted to Brooklyn Hospital Center with stab wounds sustained in the same confrontation. He was in stable condition.
The Hispanic father spoke to his wife just hours before being stabbed during a wild fight. “I feel like I’m going to wake up and it’s going to be a bad dream,” he told the Daily News his grieving wife, Norma Echeverría, 35. “Someone is going to wake me up and none of this happened.”
The couple was married for 15 years and had four children. The couple was in communication all day Sunday and Gomez Nunez called her 10 times and told her he would see her when he got off work, but he never came home. “He was the sole breadwinner in our home, a very happy and energetic man who worked hard to support us.”
Gomez Nunez worked three jobs to support his family. He was a waiter at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan’s financial district, a doorman at a luxury apartment building nearby and a restaurant manager in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He also found time to work out regularly at the gym.
No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). They can also be reached via crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by texting 274637 (CRIMES) followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
Last week, Shakel Maldonado was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his neighbor Nathaniel Thomas III, a singer in a Brooklyn church choir, to death over an apparent long-standing dispute over loud music, according to police and prosecutors.
In early July, a Dominican father was stabbed to death during a brawl that began with a minor clash in broad daylight in the Bronx (NYC). Stabbings and cuttings are common in New York City in general. There were 4,493 cases in 2023 through early December, an increase of 6% compared to the same period in 2022. In parallel, arrests for knife crimes increased by almost 30%.
A previous NYPD report warned in August 2023 that fatal stabbings had risen 29% that year in the city compared to before the pandemic (2019). Knife attacks have become more frequent in various settings: streets, buildings, homes, buses, subways, parties, schools, and even commercial establishments and ATM areas.