The three suspects connected to a deadly Bronx subway shooting last weekend each faced the walk of shame late Monday night and early Tuesday morning in dramatic fashion.
Two of the perpetrators wound up being stretchered out of the 46th Precinct stationhouse and brought to local hospitals after suffering apparent illness while in custody — though one of the hospitalized suspects was caught grinning at a reporter’s camera while waiting for their ride to a local hospital.
Meanwhile, the third individual made his perp walk on his own two feet — and bluntly claimed self-defense when reporters asked why he allegedly helped kill 45-year-old William Alvarez on board a D train at the East 182nd Street-Grand Concourse station on the morning of Feb. 23.
The NYPD identified the three suspects as 24-year-old Justin Herde, 38-year-old Betty Cotto, and 42-year-old Alfredo Trinidad — each of whom were taken into custody on Feb. 26 by the Regional Fugitive Task Force while they attempted to lay low in the Bronx.
Police sources attribute the swift apprehensions to newly installed surveillance cameras mounted into the ceiling of the train carriage that allegedly showed the trio brutally beat Alvarez following a verbal dispute.
The altercation turned deadly around 5:02 a.m. on Feb. 23 as the train pulled into the East 182 Street station when gunfire rang out.
Sources with immediate knowledge of the case report that Herde allegedly pulled out a gun and fatally shot Alvarez. First responders tried to save the victim by giving him CPR at the station, but he ultimately succumbed to his wound.
“I had to, it was self-defense,” Herde told reporters as he was whisked out of the stationhouse in cuffs late on Monday night.
While Herde was taken to Central Booking, alleged accomplices Cotto and Trinidad suddenly appeared to feel unwell after being arrested and charged and were taken out of the precinct to a local hospital for undisclosed medical issues. While Cotto appeared to twitch erratically in the back of an ambulance, Trinidad could be seen smirking as he was strapped into the gurney.
All three are charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Bronx has seen two deadly shootings on the subway system so far in 2024. The recent violence, and a general uptick of transit crime, prompted the NYPD to surge additional police officers into the subways citywide, with up to 1,000 officers walking the beats underground every day, Chief of Transit Michael Kemper told an MTA committee Monday.
