New York Daily News

Arrest 2 in stab slays at Penn Sta.

- BY JOHN ANNESE With Kerry Burke

Two men were in custody Monday in separate fatal stabbings near Penn Station, including a suspect in the shocking death of a street soccer phenom who was senselessl­y knifed as he slept on a subway last month, police said.

Jamoy Phillip, 26, of Brooklyn was charged in the unprovoked Nov. 21 slaying of Akeem Loney, 32.

He’s accused of stabbing Loney in the neck on an uptown No. 2 train as it pulled into Penn Station about 12:15 a.m., cops said.

Loney was remembered as a star player with Street Soccer USA, a nonprofit organizati­on that uses soccer as a way to reach vulnerable communitie­s and give them access to social services to lift them out of homelessne­ss.

Cops also arrested Sylvester King, 33, of Freeport, L.I., in the Nov. 25 death of a 36-year-old homeless man stabbed in the chest near the Long Island Rail Road entrance at Seventh Ave. and 33rd St.

King has a lengthy criminal record, and has served three stints in state prison since 2007 — one for weapon possession, and the other two for drug dealing, public records show. He was released from prison in April after serving 18 months for an attempted sale of a controlled substance.

Most recently, King was busted on drug sale and robbery charges in September, though the dispositio­n of those cases and whether bail was set wasn’t immediatel­y known Monday night.

In the robbery case, King assaulted his victim in the bathroom of the Senton Hotel on W. 27th St. on June 23, police said. He had consensual sex with the victim, cops said, then accused the man of owing him $3,000. He struck the victim in the face, and took his debit card, phone and house keys, police said

Phillip and King are both charged with murder. The slayings are not believed to be connected.

Both men said nothing as they were led out of the Midtown South Precinct stationhou­se Monday evening.

The slayings came amid a series of violent incidents around Penn Station.

On Oct. 24, an argument in the station’s Moynihan Train Hall between two men turned into a bloody knife fight. After squabbling inside the rail station, they pulled out blades on the street, slashing each other at Eighth Ave. and W. 31st St.

Also in October, an out-of-towner in the city on a work assignment was shot and wounded by a stray bullet as he waited for his wife outside Penn Station.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States