A 24-year-old man has been arrested for the fatal stabbing of a well-liked musician and fashionista during a clash at a Manhattan subway station, cops said Saturday.
Diego Figueroa-Hepner faces murder and weapons possession charges in the deadly attack on 40-year-old Johnny Medina near the turnstiles at the 175th St. A train subway station in Washington Heights around 5:55 p.m. Friday, cops said.
The two men knew each other, police sources said. The killing, cops said, started as a “dispute that escalated.”
Witnesses said they had seen the pair arguing near the bathrooms at the nearby J. Hood Wright Park before the two entered the station.
When they reached the mezzanine, Figueroa-Hepner flashed a knife and lunged at Medina, viciously stabbing him repeatedly in the chest and neck, cops said.
EMS rushed the victim to Harlem Hospital in cardiac arrest, they said, but he could not be saved.
During the fight, Figueroa-Hepner suffered a deep cut to his leg, police sources said. When he showed up at a nearby hospital for treatment, doctors called police, who took him in for questioning.
Medina was a popular musician and fashion enthusiast known as “J McFly” in the community, said his friend, Alberto Frozani.
“He was a nice kid. He was into fashion and making music,” said Frozani, 50. “He was a designer, a real fashionista.”
Frozani said he was shocked as paramedics carried his dying friend out of the subway station and into an ambulance.
“I saw the ambulance pull up to take him out. It was terrible,” he said. “People don’t value life no more.”
