Thomas was charged with murder and weapon possession after a fatal stabbing on a Queens J train.

A murder charge filed the morning after a killing is an accusation, not a conviction. CBS New York, Gothamist, and ABC7 New York reported that Thomas, 25, of the Bronx, was charged Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the Wednesday death of Mesias Lojano, 59. The outlets place the stabbing at about 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 30 in the Woodhaven Boulevard J-train station area in Queens. They do not agree on which way the train was running, or on whether police are describing an unprovoked attack or a dispute. That conflict stays in the reporting. It is not a fact to be smoothed over.

CBS New York reported the stabbing on a northbound J train. Officers told CBS that Lojano was stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest, that he was found unconscious and unresponsive at the Woodhaven Boulevard station, and that he was pronounced dead at the hospital. CBS reported that a knife was recovered. Gothamist reported that police said the stabbing was aboard a southbound train at Woodhaven Boulevard, that Lojano lived in Corona, Queens, and that he was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he died. ABC7 New York reported a northbound J train and a verbal dispute that continued onto the platform, where Lojano was stabbed multiple times in the chest and neck. An earlier ABC7 account of the same stabbing reported that the 59-year-old rider was taken to Jamaica Hospital and pronounced dead. Direction of travel, and which hospital sentence belongs to which outlet, are what those outlets reported. They are not one narrative.

The accounts of how it started also diverge. CBS New York reported that police now say the attack was unprovoked and that there was no prior interaction between Thomas and Lojano on the train. Gothamist reported that officials said it was not immediately clear what sparked the violence, but that the attack appeared unprovoked. ABC7 New York reported a verbal dispute on the train that spilled onto the platform, that a serrated kitchen knife was dropped, and that at least four other riders pointed the suspect out to officers. ABC7 reported that officers chased him to the roof of a nearby garage, where he was taken into custody, that Thomas was taken to Jamaica Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation Thursday morning, that police described him as emotionally disturbed, and that he was later arrested on murder and criminal possession of a weapon. A report of no prior interaction and a report of a verbal dispute are both in the coverage. Neither one is a finding.

CBS New York published a statement from witness David Benenson. He said he and others followed the alleged attacker down the street before the man climbed a roof. "He goes up onto this one roof. He then goes into another alley and onto another roof. And then me and a couple of guys are surrounding him for a few minutes until the cops get there," Benenson said. He said it took police less than 10 minutes to arrive. That is a witness statement about a chase. It is not a finding that Thomas stabbed Lojano, and it is not a verdict.

CBS New York reported that Thomas has one prior arrest, for petit larceny in September 2026 in the Bronx, according to police. A prior arrest is not this charge, and it is not proof of this charge. The murder and weapon counts are accusations. Thomas is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.