A Bronx Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday that the man accused of fatally stabbing 14-year-old Caleb Rijos in Mott Haven earlier this year is mentally unfit to stand trial and has been remanded to a psychiatric facility.
Justice George Villegas issued the ruling following a mental health evaluation of Waldo Mejia, 29, who faces charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree attempted murder, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
According to police, Mejia attacked Rijos without provocation as the teen was walking to school on Lincoln Avenue near East 139th Street on Jan. 10. Rijos was stabbed twice in the chest. He managed to call his father before collapsing and was pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical Center soon after.
Mejia was arrested later that day after being identified through surveillance footage and tips from the public. Authorities say the stabbing was random and unprovoked.
In a statement Thursday, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said Mejia will be held at a psychiatric facility until he is deemed fit to stand trial.
Clark had expressed outrage following the stabbing in January and spoke publicly about the teen’s death.
“He called his father and told his father that he couldn’t breathe and that he was scared, and his father heard him dying,” Clark said at the time. “This murder is unfathomable—to think about the level of this tragedy. Caleb was a good student. He was a football player at the Bronx Leadership Academy.”
According to NYPD officials, Mejia has a history of mental illness and a lengthy criminal record. Just five days before the stabbing, he allegedly slashed a man at a Bronx subway station in another unprovoked attack. He also had prior arrests for arson, burglary, and weapons possession.
Mejia will remain in the custody of the Office of Mental Health. Prosecutors said the case will resume if he is found mentally competent in the future.
