A midday argument inside a Morris Heights deli turned violent Friday, leaving a man in critical condition with a stab wound to the neck and sending police searching for a second suspect who remains at large. The attack unfolded just after 12:15 p.m. at 1704 Grand Ave., between West 175th and West 176th streets, according to investigators, and paramedics rushed the 36-year-old victim to St. Barnabas Hospital.
According to News 12 Bronx, investigators say the confrontation inside the deli ended with the victim suffering a stab wound to the neck. Police say the victim is listed in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital. A person of interest was taken into custody in connection with the stabbing, according to investigators, but a second suspect remained on the run as of Friday afternoon.
Police are searching for a second suspect. News 12 crews reported seeing officers outside a house down the block from the deli. The story remains developing, and this report will be updated as new details emerge.
Inside the West Bronx's Trauma Response
The victim's neck wound sent him to St. Barnabas Hospital, a New York State-designated Level II Trauma Center with 24-hour emergency surgical teams at its 422-bed acute care facility in the Bronx, according to SBH Health System. Founded in 1866 as the Home for the Incurables, St. Barnabas is the oldest continuously operating healthcare facility in New York City, per the health system.
The deli sits within the patrol boundaries of the NYPD's 46th Precinct, which covers Morris Heights along with University Heights, Fordham, and Mount Hope, according to the NYPD. The precinct's command is stationed at 2120 Ryer Ave.
A Precinct Already Grappling With Rising Violence
The Grand Avenue stabbing lands amid the precinct's broader crime picture. The NYPD provides crime-statistics files for the 46th Precinct.
Morris Heights specifically has seen a string of violent incidents in recent months. Less than three weeks before the deli stabbing, an August 26 attack near Davidson and West Tremont Avenues left a 32-year-old man dead and a 33-year-old man injured, an incident Hoodline previously covered. In April, a verbal dispute on University Avenue escalated into a stabbing that left a 58-year-old man hospitalized with two knife wounds to his back, according to the Norwood News, which led to a May arrest on assault and weapon possession charges.
Pattern Of Knife Violence Predates This Week's Attack
The neighborhood's recent violent history extends further back, with other incidents reported in the area.
Not all of the neighborhood's recent headlines have centered on violence. Other local developments also drew attention. For now, though, the deli stabbing adds another entry to a growing list of violent incidents that have shaken Morris Heights this year, with the motive behind Friday's argument, the relationship between the victim and the two suspects, and whether the searched house yields further leads all still unknown.
