The suspect accused of killing a man who witnesses said had been harassing passengers on a Brooklyn subway train committed the deadly stabbing in an act of self-defense and was defending his girlfriend, his brother said.
Jordan Williams was handcuffed as officers escorted him out of a Williamsburg police stationhouse Wednesday afternoon, just a few blocks away from where he allegedly stabbed Devictor Ouedraogo to death on a northbound J train approaching the Marcy Avenue and Broadway station the day before.
The violent incident broke out just after 8 p.m. Tuesday, and police responded to a 911 call of a man stabbed while aboard the train. When officers got to the train station, they found a 36-year-old man who had been stabbed in the chest.
The victim, Ouedraogo, was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Less than 24 hours later, the 20-year-old Williams had been arrested and charged with manslaughter and weapon possession. Attorney information for Williams was not immediately available.
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Williams said nothing as he was led out of the police station, only nodding "yes" when asked if he acted in self-defense in the previous night's incident.
Law enforcement sources told NBC New York that Ouedraogo had been harassing multiple passengers while acting belligerent and erratic toward others on board. He may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, sources said, but a toxicology report will determine if that was the case.
Williams' girlfriend was one of the people who Ouedraogo had been harassing, and he even punched herm according to a senior police official. That's when Williams sprang into action, his brother told NBC New York.
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The girlfriend was also questioned by police, but was released. Investigators are now reviewing cell phone video that captured the scuffle that led up to the deadly stabbing.
