Police announced Thursday that they had detained a man who they said fatally stabbed an 18-year-old teenager during a fight that started on a tumultuous Bronx commercial strip.
Travis Profit, 38, has been taken into custody by police on suspicion of fatally stabbing Shannon Kelsey in the chest during a brawl Tuesday afternoon close to Southern Blvd. and Westchester Ave. Police ultimately concluded that Kelsey died from a knife wound, despite their original belief that he had been shot to death.
According to authorities, Profit was shot in the leg during the altercation, and a 15-year-old boy was also slashed in the mouth. It is anticipated that both will recover.
According to a police source with knowledge of the case, the altercation started when a group of young people attempted to rob an older, more established group that was selling marijuana on the block.
The source described the suspect as both a victim and a bit of a perp.
This man deals in drugs. He was being robbed of his medications by two of the men involved in the altercation. They failed to do so. Two of them were stabbed by him. According to the source, one child passed away while the other man did not. A heist turned into a brawl. He sustained a left leg wound.
According to the source, there are other others who have not been caught. The shooter is still being sought by the police.
Video released to the Daily News revealed that a group of young mourners used candles that were stolen from a nearby bodega to create a memorial for Kelsey just hours after his passing. When an employee attempted to stop them, they threatened him with a revolver.
Store worker Ayoub Labib, who was wrapping up his 12-hour shift when the shoplifters broke into the bodega on Webster Ave. close to E. 170th St., claimed that they stole perhaps five or six candles. Yo, come pay me, I said to him. “Shut the f k up,” he snarled, turning to face me. He then went outside. I went with him. I addressed him once more, “Yo, what’s going on?” as I opened the door and followed him outside. You must reimburse me.
Labib then claimed that one of the shoplifters had threatened him with a gun.
Five candles? “That’s not logical,” Labib stated. And you carry a pistol inside? That is foolish.
He went on to say, “You should be locked up if you’re doing stupid s t.”
Shannon’s father, 65-year-old retired construction worker Marvin Kelsey, admitted in an interview that his son ran with a rough bunch, but he blamed the violence on their surroundings.
“There aren’t any bad kids here,” Kelsey stated. They are the result of their surroundings. I know what it’s all about since I grew up in the Patterson Houses in the Bronx, which is a concrete jungle.
According to Kelsey, he was my only boy. This loss is beyond description. It is impossible to explain how to deal with it.
Profit, a Bronx resident, is accused of manslaughter, murder, attempted murder, and possession of a firearm.
