WATCH | Moment Poet, NYC Activist Ryan Carson Is Stabbed to Death in Front of Girlfriend

The video of New York poet and social justice activist Ryan Carson being stabbed by a random stranger for no apparent reason has shocked people close to him and netizens.

Ryan Carson, who served as a campaign manager at the New York Public Interest Research Group, focused on sustainability and environmental policies. His friends told New York-based news outlets that Carson once talked a man out of mugging him.

In the video, Ryan Carson, 32, and his girlfriend can be seen sitting on a bus stop bench in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Both of them were returning home from a wedding on Long Island in the wee hours of Monday morning.

The surveillance video shared by author Ian Miles Cheong showed a stranger kicking down parked scooters near the footpath for no apparent reason. The man suddenly turns to Carson and says: “What the f–k are you looking at?”

He then begins to advance on the couple and at that moment the beloved community activist steps between the stranger and his girlfriend and says he was not looking at anything.

“I will kill you,” the stranger threatens and then lunges at Carson, sending him tumbling down over the same bench he and his girlfriend were sitting on a few moments earlier. His girlfriend could frantically be heard yelling and screaming for help.

In the next few moments, the assailant grabs Carson’s jacket and stabs him savagely multiple times in the chest. Carson lies in the ground, mortally wounded and then suddenly the assailant comes back again, this time to target the woman but stops when she raises her hand to stop him.

He spits at her and then storms away.

A report by the New York Post said that an unknown woman appeared in the corner of the frame and told the attacker not to hurt the couple. The report said that investigators believe the woman who appeared later may have known the suspect as she could be heard in the video repeating what sounds like the name “Brian” or “Bryan”.

Carson succumbed to his injuries while he was being taken to Kings County Hospital Center. The stab wound has pierced his heart, the New York Post said.

“Ryan was a consummate team player who would happily undertake the basic ‘blocking and tackling’ tasks necessary to advance and win on an issue, but also shined in the spotlight as a leader, campaign manager and spokesperson,” the NYPIRG said in a statement. A candlelight vigil was also held in the city in his remembrance.

No arrests have been made so far.