Man, 72, Killed In Unprovoked Attack In Harlem, DA Says

HARLEM, NY — A man has been indicted on murder charges for killing a 72-year-old Harlem man named Alfredo Cortes on New Year's in an unprovoked knife attack, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said.

According to Bragg, Darnell Jackson, 39, was standing at a deli on the corner of West 137th Street and Lenox Avenue on Jan. 1 at 3:40 a.m., when Cortes, walking with a cane, briefly entered and then exited the deli.

Cortes began walking away from the deli when Jackson spoke to the victim, Bragg said. The victim stopped walking, and Jackson approached him, knocked him to the ground, and then slashed him in the neck, leaving a foot-long laceration, Bragg said.

Then, Cortes got up and walked back towards the deli before collapsing to the ground, Bragg said. He was later pronounced dead at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, Bragg said,

“We allege that Darnell Jackson, without any provocation, brutally slashed a 72-year-old man on the street," Bragg said.

An hour after the attack, Jackson went to the nearby precinct and turned himself in, Bragg said.

Jackson has been charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count of murder in the second degree and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

"A New Year’s trip to the deli should never end in death, and we will continue to hold anyone who commits violence accountable for their actions," Bragg said.

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