A teen girl was fatally stabbed in the neck outside a Queens subway station — and a 15-year-old girl has since been arrested for the murder – police said Thursday.
Sara Rivera, 17, was knifed outside the 46th St.-Bliss St. subway stop in Sunnyside around 9:35 p.m. Wednesday, cops said.
Family had no idea what could have led to the slaying, allegedly at the hands of a classmate.
The killer dropped the murder weapon at the scene and ran off, cops said. A 15-year-old girl was later taken into custody at the Flushing-Main St. station and charged Thursday with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to cops. The two teens attend the same high school.
Cops did not release the suspect’s name since she is a minor. Prosecutors will determine whether to charge her as an adult.
The slaying had striking parallels to the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl, allegedly by a 15-year-old girl, at a Bronx building courtyard just last week.
In Wednesday’s slaying, medics rushed Sara from the scene at Queens Blvd. and 48th St. to Elmhurst Hospital Center, but she could not be saved.
The teen was remembered Thursday as outgoing and caring by her heartbroken brother at the family’s Jackson Heights home.
“She wasn’t just a sister, she was a best friend to me. She was always listening to what I had to say. She would always tell me her problems,” the 22-year-old brother, who did not want his name published, told the Daily News. “Overall she was a good person. … Not every friend was there for her but the ones that were definitely friends for life.”
“She would love to talk, she loved to express herself. Even if it wasn’t in the best of ways. She would still like to express herself,” he added. “She loved to go outside, she loved to explore and travel to different parts of New York City.”
The victim was a senior at Queens Technical High School and had two older brothers and one older sister, said the family. She was slain a block from school.
The victim’s brother said that Rivera sometimes had trouble getting along with other teens.
“Some of the kids that she would talk to she might not get along with,” he said. “She’s definitely had some problems in the past with many of her friends. And she would always still try to be friends with them no matter what would happen. And she would always argue and be overly expressive in a bad way sometimes.”
When asked if he knew the suspect in his sister’s stabbing, Sara’s brother said he didn’t recognize her name.
“I have no idea. As of right now we have no idea who the girl was. My sister has never mentioned the girl at all,” he said. “We’re still trying to figure things out and trying to get more information, because we just want to know why? How did it happen?
“My parents, they were just heartbroken and the rest of my family is the same as well,” said the brother. “They didn’t hold up too well. But, you know, we have to be strong together as a family.”
Outside the Riveras’ home, Sara’s friends gathered to mourn and console the victim’s family.
“She was very friendly. She was very lovable. She was a very hyper person. Always put a smile on peoples’ face,” said Natalia Carrillo, 17. “She always was there for people. Always, always, always.”
“She wanted to have her own hair salon,” said Natalia, tearing up. “She wanted us to grow and have our own apartment. Our birthdays are like literally two days apart, so we were gonna be 18 together. And she was like my sister.”
Natalia said the two teens would argue but always made up.
“We would not talk about it for days, and then I would say sorry to her and we would be fine,” said the friend. “I always had her back, and she had my back. We was always together. I don’t know how this happened!”
A 16-year-old friend said she wouldn’t know what to say to the girl who allegedly stabbed Sara.
“I don’t know. I can’t even look at her,” said the teen. “Because it’s like why would you do that? Like I would never.”
Commenters on the 15-year-old suspect’s Instagram page were more blunt.
“You took away a beautiful soul without thinking of the pain you have caused for her family. Hope you get the life sentence,” wrote one user.
“Rot in hell,” posted another. “Justice for Sara.”
Rivera’s brother, who grew up with her in Paterson, N.J., reflected on his sister’s ambitions and potential.
“She would’ve graduated this year. She wanted to go to college to be a psychologist or something along those lines, a therapist,” he said.
“She was still young, and she was just still trying to navigate through the world,” he added.
At an after-school vigil outside the subway station where she was killed, crowds of Sara’s friends and classmates came together Thursday to lay flowers, light candles and release balloons.
In front of the memorial, a teen called for a moment of peace for Sara and led a call-and-response chant. “Let me get a rest in peace for Sara,” the boy yelled.
Teens at the memorial said that Sara and the girl accused of killing her were best friends and that the altercation stemmed from a petty argument.
“To think that your friend is gonna pull up a weapon out of nowhere — it just seems preplanned,” said Balery Gonzalez, 18.
“The other thing was that she was jealous,” added Nathaly Barrera, 18, explaining that Sara was a very likable person who “fit into every group and school” and the suspect, who was younger than her, was envious of that.
Krystal Valentin, 38, has a daughter who was at school with Sara.
“She’s pretty broken up about it,” she said of her daughter. “It could have been my child.”
Teens broke out in tears at the gathering.
“I’m sorry that this happened to you,” 19-year-old Jasaiah Ortega said before he broke down, covering his face with his T-shirt as he sobbed.
Earlier this month, a 17-year-old girl was stabbed to death in the courtyard of a Bronx apartment building.
Emery Mizell was fatally knifed in the chest on Boynton Ave. near Watson Ave. in Soundview around 2:15 p.m. on May 2. A 15-year-old girl taken into custody at the scene was charged with murder.
On Tuesday afternoon, 16-year-old Mahki Brown was shot to death after intervening in an argument between two groups of girls in the courtyard of the luxury Dominick Hotel on Spring St. near Varick St. in SoHo. The gunman and an accomplice took off on one Citi Bike and are still on the loose.
Six hours before Wednesday’s fatal stabbing in Queens, two 15-year-old boys were stabbed in an unprovoked attack on Seabury Place near a McDonald’s on Boston Road in the Bronx.
One victim was stabbed in the chest, the other slashed in the hand around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Medics took them to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition.
The students attend the Bronx Envision Academy less than two blocks away.
