Police Commissioner Kelly spoke out about the stabbing death of Bronx high school football star Isayah Muller, who was killed hours after graduating from Truman High School. Referring to the violent confrontation between Muller and his father Andre versus parking garage attendants that the father suspected of a stealing graduation gift, Kelly said, "What a tragedy. [Andre] Muller was the aggressor."
A missing $200 bottle of cologne apparently sparked Muller to accuse the attendants. The Post reports:
Andre freaked out when he couldn't find the cologne and allegedly landed a vicious punch on [parking attendant Ramon] Hernandez's jaw and repeatedly pounded him.
The terrified attendant grabbed a chair and machete to ward off the attack, but the raging ex-con then picked up a shovel and struck Hernandez, leaving a deep gash on his arm, cops said.
[Joselin] Encarnacion pulled a homemade knife and jumped in to protect his pal, cops said.
At that point, the 19-year-old entered the fight, to protect his father, and was stabbed in the chest. The attendants were not charged; Hernandez said, "I was trying to hold the shovel back. If not, [Andre] would have killed me. We have a machete in case of emergencies. I wanted to scare him, so I took the machete and swung it at him to scare him and not to hit him." DNAinfo reports, "Prosecutor David Greenfield said that while the alleged stabber stayed at the scene and called 911, Isayah's father, who has convictions for robbery and drug sale, tried to run from cops at the hospital."
Andre Muller, who wore a shirt stained with his son's blood in court, was released on bail after being charged with assault, menacing and weapons possession charges. A relative of Muller's told the Daily News, "This is a case of robbery and murder," adding that the teen who was headed to Nassau County Community College, "He told his mother, 'Don't worry mom, when I make it to the NFL I will take care of you, and the kids.' This is a huge loss for our family."
