18-Year-Old Dead After Being Stabbed, Set On Fire In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A teenager has died after being stabbed and set on fire in the Bronx.
It happened around 3:10 p.m. Wednesday in an apartment building at Woodycrest Avenue and West 165th Street in the Highbridge area.
"I heard screams, very loud screams," neighbor Joseph Romero told CBS2's Cory James. "Like a horror movie, it was crazy. It was something unnatural."
Romero says it's a noise he will never forget, one that forced him out of his apartment, not knowing what was going on.
"I checked to see what was happening, but I didn't see anyone on the first floor, so I was confused where the sound was coming from," he said.
Police say it was coming from four stories above.
Investigators tell us 18-year-old Winston Ortiz, who was in the hallway on the fifth floor, was stabbed three times, doused with gasoline and then set on fire.
Web Extra: GoFundMe For Winston Ortiz's Family
Neighbors in the building were left shocked.
"That's crazy, never heard of something like that happening here," neighbor Miulens Mercado said.
A source tells CBS2 a neighbor heard the screams and put the flames burning the Ortiz's skin out with water.
Viewer video later shows firefighters on scene, and then paramedics stepping out of an elevator with a stretcher.
Ortiz was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities spent hours investigating, standing inside the building where the attack happened.
While the motive is unclear, police believe there is only one suspect, who made his escape in a hallway that did not have working surveillance cameras.
As the manhunt for the suspect continues, some residents are hoping for change.
"This building, a lot of things happen in this building. A lot of push here, drugs," resident Joseph Stewart said.
Authorities say Tuesday night, two people were shot near a bodega close to the apartment building in an unrelated incident. They are expected to survive.
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