An 18-year-old North Bergen resident was stabbed to death after an altercation with a group of other teens last Thursday night in front of a store on Kennedy Boulevard – just two days after the victim got a job at the local store.
According to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, Anthony Ruiz, who two days prior began a job as a stock boy at Party City on Kennedy Boulevard, was stabbed in the chest after getting into a fight with a group of teens outside the store, after Ruiz was apparently taking out the trash at around 10 p.m.
DeFazio said that Ruiz went to take out the trash and was approached by a group of approximately five teenagers. Soon after, an argument broke out and then a fight ensued, with Ruiz allegedly punching one of the teens who surrounded him in the face.
Ruiz tried to run away from the group of teens, but they chased after him and eventually caught him in the hallway of a nearby apartment complex, where the group of teens allegedly beat Ruiz and stabbed him in the chest with a knife.
Ruiz was found in the hallway of the apartment complex and was pronounced dead at the scene around 11 p.m. The North Bergen Police Department, the Union City Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office conducted the investigation.
According to DeFazio, the investigation into Ruiz’s murder, which is still ongoing, has provided information that Ruiz might have known at least one of his assailants.
“He apparently had prior contact with at least one, if not more than one of those who were arrested,” DeFazio said. “They were not strangers to one another. We believe that there was some element of prior bad blood between one of the assailants and Mr. Ruiz, some sort of ill will. It was a typical incident that escalated into the worst of crimes.”
A day after the murder, three teens from Union City were arrested and charged with the murder. Joshua Rey Rodriguez, 18, of Monastery Place; Samuel M. Crandell, 18, of Ninth Street and Frank Diaz, 18, of Third Street have all been arrested and charged with Ruiz’s murder.
The three remain incarcerated at the Hudson County Jail in Kearny, with bail posted at $250,000 each.
The two or three others who were part of the group that began the altercation have been questioned by Union City police, but it is not known whether they will be charged in the case.
“We’re pretty certain that the assault was limited to those who have been charged,” DeFazio said. “The others have been spoken to. They did not partake in the homicidal assault.”
DeFazio said that the investigation will try to determine a cause for the incident, as well as “a definitive answer to the source of the knife,” he said.
DeFazio also ruled out the possibility that the incident was part of ongoing street gang violence that has plagued the area.
“It’s not in the organized sense of being gang-related,” DeFazio said.
Members of Ruiz’s family, who asked to keep their anonymity, said that Ruiz was trying to get his life on track, which is why he wanted to get a job to help support his three-year-old daughter. He was pursuing a high school equivalency and had aspirations to further his education.
The family members also didn’t know why anyone would have wanted to kill Ruiz.
“He was a really good kid,” the family member said. “He kept to himself and didn’t bother anyone. Why would anyone want to do this to him? He didn’t cause anyone any harm.”
Representatives from Party City refused to comment on Ruiz’s murder, other than to say that Ruiz had just started to work at the store on Tuesday.
After the stabbing, Union City police identified the three teens involved in the incident through investigation and by watching the security video of the store, which captured part of the chase from outside the Party City store where it began to the foyer of the home where Ruiz was eventually stabbed.
“The Union City police did a very good job in investigating this case,” said DeFazio, mentioning that they uncovered a bloody piece of clothing that led to the arrests. “They were on top of it right after the incident took place.”