Police in New York are searching for the man who brutally stabbed a beloved community activist to death in Brooklyn early Monday.
Ryan Carson, 32, was standing at a bus stop with his girlfriend when they were approached by a man who asked Carson what he was looking at, reports say. The man then repeatedly stabbed him in the chest. Carson was later pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.
The shocking and apparently unprovoked attack has led to an outpouring of grief from friends and colleagues who remembered Carson as a tireless social justice advocate who dedicated himself to making the world a better place.
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For the last decade, he worked as a campaign manager with the New York Public Interest Research Group, most recently focusing on recycling. He had also campaigned to spread awareness about the opioid crisis and lobbied for safe injection sites in 2021 by walking from New York City to Albany, raising more than $20,000 in an accompanying GoFundMe campaign.
“I was absolutely in disbelief,” New York Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, who knew Carson prior to her political career, told CBS New York. She added that Carson had recently been sending out reminders for his upcoming birthday, and she said he was someone she could turn to for support.
“If you wanted to talk, he was absolutely always ready to talk, always there for you,” Gallagher said. “It’s hard when the person that you go to to talk about grief is the one who died.”
No arrests have been made in connection with Carson’s death. Sources told CBS that police don’t even have a physical description of the suspect but that the man had been acting irrationally before the attack.
“It’s incredibly tragic,” Blair Horner, Carson’s boss at the New York Public Interest Research Group, told ABC 7 NY. “A life full of promise is snuffed out—and the world is a worse place for it and we’ll miss him dearly.”
On Monday night, more than 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil at the Herbert Von King Park across the street from Carson’s home in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Friends and associates also posted online tributes to Carson and his inspirational work.
“I’m horrified to learn of the brutal murder of advocate Ryan Carson in Brooklyn today,” New York City Council Member Chi Ossé posted on X, formerly Twitter. “This tireless defender of his neighbors was stolen from us. Committed to ending this senseless violence, my heart is with his family.”
Ossé’s fellow council member Sandy Nurse similarly wrote that she and her team were “devastated” to hear of Carson’s death. “Ryan was a dedicated environmental advocate who worked tirelessly to protect our communities and ecosystems from the climate crisis,” Nurse wrote.
The New York Communities for Change community organization called Carson a “wonderful advocate and ally” who was “taken too soon.” The City University of New York Rising Alliance described him as “a champion of the working class, a dedicated advocate, and a beloved friend & mentor to so many of us.”
“He formally served as a rep in our coalition and worked so hard to advance equity & justice in our state,” the coalition of labor, student, and community organizations added in its tribute. “We celebrate the life of Ryan and will miss him dearly.”
