Man charged in fatal stabbing on NYC subway after arguing with rider who stepped on his shoes

NEW YORK (AP) — A Bronx man was arrested Wednesday in the stabbing death of another man on a New York City subway train following a dispute over getting one of their shoes stepped on.

Luis Jose-Duarte, 46, was arrested in lower Manhattan and charged with first degree manslaughter in the April 25 killing of 38-year-old John Sheldon, police said. It was the first homicide in the subway this year.

The state court system’s online database didn’t list a lawyer for Jose-Duarte. Police and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The attack happened at around 8:30 a.m. Friday at the subway station in lower Manhattan that serves City Hall and the nearby Brooklyn Bridge.

According to police, the two men got into an argument after Jose-Duarte stepped on Sheldon’s shoes.

Sheldon was stabbed on the train and in the subway station after the two got off. Officers found him unresponsive with multiple stab wounds to his torso, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police said there were no homicides in the transit system during the first three months of the year for the first time in seven years. Subway crime in the first quarter of 2025 also decreased to the second-lowest level for the quarter in 27 years.