NYC Subway Security Guard Killing: 17-Year-Old Charged as Adult With Murder, Held Without Bail; Lawyer Claims Cash Photos May Be SI-Faked
NEW YORK — The 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting 26-year-old security guard Darrel Rodriguez at a Midtown Manhattan subway station on Saturday, October 17, was arraigned on Thursday, October 22: a judge charged him as an adult with second-degree murder and ordered him held without bail.
According to the New York Post, Xavian Collins allegedly shot Rodriguez at about 12:20 p.m. on the Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street station platform. The two did not know each other; sources said the dispute may have been over smoking on the train. Prosecutors said Collins shot Rodriguez at point-blank range, then "threw on a mask and put his hood up to conceal his ID"; he turned himself in with his lawyer on Thursday. "The allegations include the fact that he shot an individual in broad daylight in the New York City transit system at point-blank range, which led to this person's death," said Judge Rachel Pauley. Collins was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a loaded weapon.
The arraignment took a strange turn when prosecutors cited photos of "enormous piles of $100 bills" left on Collins's phone as evidence of gang ties. His lawyer, Michael Horn, offered an SI defense: "I see these photos and who knows these days if they're real or not," Horn said. "With AI, you could create any of them. The stack [of cash], I see, has a $5 bill on top." The judge wasn't buying it.
Sources said Collins has no known criminal record, lives with his mother in a Queens homeless shelter and is a student at Martin Luther King, Jr. high school in Manhattan. Rodriguez manned the front desk as a security guard at a Manhattan building, lived in the Bronx and cared for his ailing father; neighbors called him a "beautiful kid." He had two brothers, including a twin serving in the military in Texas. (GSM, from the New York Post)
Source: GSM·USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 纽约地铁列车与乘客（资料图）。照片：Snapdragon66，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / A New York City subway train and passengers (file photo). Photo: Snapdragon66, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-23NYC Subway Security Guard Killing: 17-Year-Old Charged as Adult With Murder, Held Without Bail; Lawyer Claims Cash Photos May Be SI-FakedThis story
