A Broadway alum has been arrested after fatally shoving a 76-year-old man down the stairs of a New York City subway station.
Arrest documents obtained by Complex show that Rhamell Burke has been charged with the murder of Ross Falzone. According to ABC7, the incident happened on Thursday night at around 9:30 p.m., hours after Burke had been released from a psychiatric hold. Police say the suspect came up behind the victim and shoved him unprovoked.
Police found Falzone, who was unresponsive at the 18th Street station stairs. The retired teacher was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on early Friday morning. It was discovered that he suffered a traumatic brain injury, fractured spine, and fractured rib.
On Thursday, police took Burke to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after they were seen acting erratically outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse on East 51st Street. Burke was released that same day.
Following Falzone’s death, Burke was arrested on Friday at around 3:30 p.m. at Penn Station and was later arraigned in court on Saturday. The 32-year-old is now being held without bail at Rikers Island.
Burke has been arrested four times this year. They were previously apprehended for assaulting a Port Authority police officer and for assaulting a stranger; Burke was subsequently placed on supervised release.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani shared that he has initiated a probe into how Bellevue Hospital handled Burke’s psychiatric evaluation.
"New Yorkers deserve answers. That is why I've directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols," Mamdani said in a statement, per ABC7.
Burke appeared in the Broadway production of King Kong and in the Off-Broadway production of Black No More.
