A 17-year-old boy was charged on Thursday with murder in connection with an attack on a man in Times Square that the police say was motivated by a social media trend.
The boy, Jayden Sanchez, was arraigned on Thursday night in Manhattan Criminal Court and charged with second-degree murder, assault, robbery and several additional charges relating to the attack and a slate of other recent offenses.
The police had been seeking Jayden since Monday, when he and two other people confronted Leonides Baez, 39, who had been sleeping on the street, as part of a TikTok trend where users record themselves “messing with crackheads,” the police said. According to prosecutors, the harassment turned violent after Jayden drew a knife and chased Mr. Baez before stabbing him in the chest. Mr. Baez later died at a hospital.
In a statement on Friday, a spokeswoman for TikTok denounced the episode and said that after a thorough search of the platform, the company had not found any content relating to the attack or anything similar.
“This is a matter of horrific violent conduct, not a trend,” the statement said.
Jayden was arrested on Thursday morning after transit officers caught him jumping a subway turnstile at the Stillwell Avenue station in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn and discovered that he was wanted in connection with Mr. Baez’s killing. They also found and confiscated a scalpel that he had been carrying.
Though he is a minor, Jayden’s case was heard in criminal court on Thursday. On Friday, he had his first hearing in the Youth Part of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Prosecutors said they planned to file a motion to prevent his case from being moved to Family Court, where cases involving defendants under 18 years are typically prosecuted.
On Thursday night, Jayden sat handcuffed and squirming on a wooden bench in a Manhattan courtroom, repeatedly dropping his head between his knees and then raising it to the ceiling as he awaited the proceedings.
At one point, Jayden told the detective accompanying him that Mr. Baez had escalated the confrontation. At another, he said he had prayed for him.
Mr. Baez, who the police said is originally from Worcester, Mass., had been passing through New York City on his way to Florida on the night he was killed, prosecutors said during the hearing on Friday.
Mr. Baez, whom they described as a “hippy, wanderer,” had fallen asleep on a ledge on West 43rd Street, close to Times Square. About two hours later, just before 11:30 p.m., he was roused from his sleep by a group of teenagers, including Jayden, who surrounded him and threw a bag of his belongings at him.
The group began jeering at Mr. Baez, harassment that Jayden later told investigators had been inspired by the TikTok trend and Jayden soon motioned for Mr. Baez to come closer. The man, apparently sensing no danger, skipped toward the group and as he did, Jayden threw a cup filled with urine at him, prosecutors said.
As Mr. Baez fled, Jayden pulled out a red knife from his vest and chased him down a breezeway. He eventually reached Mr. Baez, grabbed his torso and stabbed him in the chest.
Jayden and the two others then fled to the Columbus Circle subway station, dumping the knife as they left, prosecutors said. Officers and emergency medical workers responding to a 911 call found Mr. Baez bleeding on the ground six minutes later. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after midnight, the authorities said.
The killing took place as violence among teenagers has grown in New York City in recent years, in many cases driven by online feuds or during events publicized on social media. The attack on Monday bears resemblance to an assault just days before in Binghamton, N.Y., in which four teenagers were charged in an attack on a 45-year-old homeless man, leaving him in critical condition.
As in Jayden’s case, the police in Binghamton said the assault had been inspired by a recent online trend of recording attacks against homeless people and drug users.
The attack in Times Square this week, prosecutors said, was part of a crime spree that Jayden and his friends had been on in the area over the past few weeks.
On the night of April 7, prosecutors said, Jayden and three other people began stealing from a souvenir store on West 40th Street. According to witness accounts and surveillance video reviewed by the police, when a store employee tried to stop the group, Jayden pulled out a knife, slashed the man on his right hand and fled.
A few weeks later, on Sunday at 3 a.m., Jayden and three others stole money and other items from a newsstand on 54th Street and 7th Avenue, prosecutors said. Later that night, Jayden and a few others returned. A fight broke out and Jayden slashed an employee in the chest.
The next night, Jayden went to Times Square and began harassing Mr. Baez.
In the criminal complaint charging Jayden, prosecutors said he was identified in part by two school safety officers who have interacted with him several times at Manhattan High School.
Jayden was under the custody of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, but he absconded in November, prosecutors said.
In the courtroom on Thursday, as Jayden fidgeted in his seat, he looked back at a woman seated in a row behind him, Genniett Torres, who said he lives with her, and dates her daughter.
“He’s a minor,” Ms. Torres called out into the courtroom at one point.
“Mom,” Jayden called back to her, his voice breaking. “You’ll help me, right?”
She nodded, tears running down her face.
Hurubie Meko and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
Maia Coleman is a reporter for The Times covering the New York Police Department and criminal justice in the New York area.
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