Teen May Have Saved Another Homeless Person From Being Killed By Suspect In Chinatown Murders
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Manhattan teen says he may have come in contact with a man now accused of murdering four people.
He says he wouldn't hesitate to help save a stranger again.
"Did he seem capable of killing somebody?" CBS2's Valerie Castro asked Argenys Vargas.
"Yeah I mean from afar I saw him banging this dude's head against a rail," the Good Samaritan said.
The 19-year-old says what he witnessed on Sept. 27 was not what he expected on his birthday. Vargas was on Manhattan's west side when he noticed a violent struggle here near the waterfront.
"I just seen somebody get beat over and over and it was really bad to look at to be honest with you," Vargas said.
He got closer and yelled at the attacker to stop, just before the victim was nearly tossed over the railing.
"I seen his blood all over the rails and back of his head from afar."
"The individual was woken up, being hit by an object, there was a physical confrontation where the individual believes, there was a possibility of attempting to being thrown over the banister in to the water," NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea explained.
Police believe the suspect in that case is Randy Santos, the same man now accused of murdering four men on the streets of Chinatown, bludgeoning them to death a week later.
The similar style of assault and evidence of Santos in the area seems to be too much of a coincidence.
"We have him approximately seven blocks away, very clear video, who we believe is Mr. Santos on that evening and we believe he was responsible for that attack," Shea added.
Vargas believes his actions scared Santos away and says he wouldn't hesitate to do the same, even now.
"Would you intervene again if you saw something like that happening?" Castro asked the teen.
"Yeah because I hope someone does that for me," Vargas said.
Santos has not been charged with a crime in connection to the incident on the west side, but police say they are still investigating.
