One Dead, Two Injured in East Village Stabbing Rampage

“Is that blood? Oh my God that’s awful.”

That was the horrified reaction of one young woman as she happened upon the police crime tape that marked the spot on East 14th St near Avenue A that hours earlier was the scene of a wild stabbing that left a 38-year-old man dead and two others injured.

Police said a 30-year-old male suspect later identified as Alejandro Piedra, of Dewitt Avenue in Brooklyn was taken into custody the night of the stabbing. A small knife was recovered by police at the scene.

Dried blood could be scene on the sidewalk.

A 38-year-old male victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after being stabbed in the neck but succumbed to his wound. He was later identified as Clemson Coxfield.

Piedra was charged with murder for Coxfield’s death.

A second victim, a 51-year-old woman was stabbed in the leg and also taken to Bellevue Hospital where she was listed in critical condition.

A third victim, a 32 -year-old male was stabbed in the back and taken to Bellevue where cops said he was listed in stable condition.

Police did not advance a motive for the violence which erupted shortly before 6 p.m. on Sunday June 23. Piedra has been charged with attempted murder for his attack on the two injured victims.

The scene of the crime was only feet away from a popular Trader Joe’s and Domino’s Pizza stores on E. 14th St.

The crime scene sits across the street from Stuyvesant Town. The south side of E. 14th St. long been a source of complaints from area residents due to rising homeless population and unlicensed street vendors who have been setting up a bazaar on makeshift stands on blankets selling everything from canned goods to clothing, and electronics gear.

One person, who was filming the attack on the Citizen app on June 23 commented, “Compare NYC crime today, it’s like we’re back in the 90s.”

Another commentator added, “The whole block on E. 14th St. between A and 1st is like skid row in L.A.”

Added another Citizen app commentator: “This is a sad day for the East Village. We should be united, not divided. Let’s get justice for the victims and not focus on personal beliefs that could deter from the most important thing–humanity.”

In January, a short distance from the scene of the fatal attack on June 23, John Mach, a caretaker at Immaculate Conception Church on E.14th St. was stabbed in the neck by a homeless person that the worker tried to prevent from urinating between parked cars just outside the church during Mass. Police arrested a suspect, identified as Robert Ortiz, days later at a homeless shelter in the Bowery.

A Catholic elementary school adjacent to the church which had operated since the Civil War era was forced to close a year ago. Parish leaders said that the squalid street bazaar outside the school probably contributed to the enrollment decline that started during the pandemic.

The church worker who was stabbed managed to walk himself to Beth Israel Hospital with a bloody towel on his neck to stem the bleeding that ultimately required 18 stitches to close.

Mayor Eric Adams at a town hall meeting back in Feb. said he had walked the blocked with a local police commander and described the area as “disgusting” and pledged to clean it up.

Although police periodically cleared the cluttered sidewalk of the vendors from time to time, the makeshift bazaar generally returned within a matter of days.

In the latest incident, police had yet to release the identity of the victim of the fatal stabbing pending notification of the next of kin.

The area was still being guarded by more than a half dozen officers late into the evening the night of the stabbing. “The investigation is ongoing,” one sergeant on the scene told Our Town.

City Council member Carlina Rivera said in a statement:

“We are also upset that this area remains chaotic and unkempt since the pandemic. I have personally been in touch with the NYPD, Bellevue Hospital, the Department of Sanitation, Manhattan District Attorney, and the Archdiocese to work together to address local conditions,” Rivera said. “Just moments before the incident, the NYPD approached multiple aggressive individuals transient to the area, and have identified the individual involved as an emotionally disturbed person with a record of assault.”