Suspect In Unprovoked Fatal Stabbing of Activist Ryan Carson Identified and Arrested In NYC

According to ABC News, a person of interest seen on video stabbing a man walking down a NYC street was taken into custody on Oct. 5.

On Oct. 3, Brian Dowling allegedly stabbed activist Ryan Carson, who was walking down the street in Brooklyn with his girlfriend. Carson, 31, died of his injuries, including multiple stab wounds to the chest, during the random attack in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. While on their way home from a wedding, the couple stopped to sit on a sidewalk bench when the suspect walked by them. According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, Carson and his girlfriend then walked toward the suspect as he started to damage scooters. The suspect allegedly said to Carson, “What are you looking at?”

Surveillance footage indicated that the suspect allegedly swung a knife at the 31-year-old man who tried to stop him. As Carson moved back, he tripped and fell, allowing the suspect to stab him with the knife, piercing his heart.

GRAPHIC WARNING: NY Post obtains and releases video showing fatal stabbing of Leftist activist Ryan Carson in front of girlfriend on NYC street late-night after wedding

1. Always carry a gun

2. Always keep distance between yourself and a potential threat

Such a senseless… pic.twitter.com/tpNyaJk2Ke

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) October 3, 2023

Police say Dowling is an 18-year-old employee of a learn-to-work program at a Clinton Hill school. Before the stabbing, Dowling was seen to be “agitated” after conversing with a woman believed to be his girlfriend. After the incident, that same woman found the couple to apologize and gave up Dowling’s name.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams made a promise that the NYPD would bring justice, calling the murder “unthinkable.” According to FOX News, Carson worked as a senior solid waste campaign manager at the New York Public Interest Research Group and was a poet who reportedly once wrote about the fear he had of his own death.

His girlfriend, only identified as Claudia, posted a note she found in Carson’s phone dedicated to her. “When you get right down to it, all I want is to love Claudia more than she’s ever been loved, which is frankly all she’s ever deserved,” the note said.