A 19-year-old with an assault record was fatally stabbed in the heart yesterday, after a catfight turned into a deadly brawl outside a Hell’s Kitchen high school, sources said.
“He collapsed in the middle of the street,” Rocio Aguilar, 16, said of victim Theodore Beckles.
Beckles’ girlfriend fought with another girl in the building that houses the Environmental Studies High School and Independence High School on West 56th Street, around 2:30 p.m., sources said.
Both girls ran to their boyfriends for help, sources said.
”I saw a lot of kids running up the block,” said retired teacher David Scalza, 51. “People were screaming.”
Four teens surrounded Beckles, then one of them plunged a knife into his heart, a source said. The stabber was at large early today, but the other three were being questioned by cops.
As Beckles lay on the ground, a principal rushed to his side, witnesses said.
”She was pleading with him to sit still,” Scalza added. “He was struggling. He was in pain.”
Beckles was rushed to New York Hospital, where he died. No arrests have been made.
Two years ago, Beckles was charged with assault for bashing an 18-year-old stranger over the head with a baseball bat just one block from where he was fatally stabbed.
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen