Friends House on East 25th StreetFriends House on East 25th Street (Photo via Wikimedia)
By Maria Rocha-Buschel
Police arrested a 40-year-old homeless man on Sunday for the stabbing death of a 54-year-old man, Moses Ybarra, inside an apartment complex on East 25th Street over the weekend.
Ashraf Ahmed allegedly stabbed Ybarra inside his apartment at 130 East 25th Street in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 9. Ybarra had multiple stab wounds to his chest, forehead, arms and leg, and there was blood all over the room, the district attorney’s office said.
Police also reportedly recovered two bloody knives next to where Ybarra was laying. EMS pronounced Ybarra dead at 2 a.m.
Police said that surveillance video showed Ahmed entering the building at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, June 8 and leaving around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 9, and no one else was seen entering of exiting the building during that time.
According to the DA’s office, a witness in the building received a call about screams for help coming from the apartment but no one answered when he went upstairs and knocked on the door. He told police that he went back downstairs and shortly after, allegedly saw Ahmed leave the building. The witness then returned to the apartment, where he reportedly found Ybarra unresponsive on the floor and surrounded by blood.
The Daily News reported that Ybarra and Ahmed may have previously been roommates, although the victim’s family told the paper that while Ybarra did help out Ahmed with advice and cash, the two never lived together.
The building where Ybarra lived and was killed is also known as Friends House and is a supportive residence for people living with AIDS. His family told the Daily News they didn’t know why he had been living there.
An NYPD detective caught Ahmed near a homeless encampment under the FDR Drive at East 19th Street on Sunday, June 10, the Daily News reported on Monday.
Ahmed was charged with murder and weapons possession inside the 13th Precinct at 1:40 p.m. that day.