Father of 3 Fatally Stabbed on N.Y.C. Bus After Fight Over Seat: Police

A father of three was killed following a dispute over a bus seat that turned deadly on Mother’s Day weekend, officials with the New York Police Department said. 

Alvin Francis, 41, of Queens, N.Y., was identified as the fatal stabbing victim, multiple local news outlets reported, citing the NYPD. 

“See you when I get home,” was the last thing he said to his wife, Candice Todman-Francis, she told the New York Daily News.

She became worried when he never made it home.

“I hadn’t heard from him, so I tracked his phone and I saw him at the precinct. So I called the precinct,” Todman-Francis, 36, said. Soon after, officers arrived at their residence and delivered the heartbreaking news. 

According to his wife, she was told, “He got into a tussle on the bus.” She added, “It’s under investigation. I have not one detail. I’m just as lost as everybody else.”

PEOPLE did not immediately receive a response from the NYPD.

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The incident happened just before 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 11, Brooklyn News 12 reported. 

Francis and an unidentified individual were arguing on the J90 shuttle bus as it was stopped near Crescent Street and Etna Street in Cypress Hills, per NBC New York. The victim was stabbed in his stomach and the suspect fled the scene.

The late father was transported to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. No arrests have been made as of Monday, May 12.

“I heard some people screaming, so I looked out my window and I [saw] the bus was stopped there, and everybody was running out the bus and in matter than three seconds the cops were here,” a nearby resident told News 12.

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Todman-Francis and her husband had been together for 21 years. Five years ago, they got married and were planning a vow renewal in August, per the Daily News. 

They were parents to three sons. Francis was on his way home to have a Mother’s Day dinner with his family.

“He’s a hardworking man,” his wife said. “Work and home — literally, work and home and his favorite place is Home Depot.”

Francis was reportedly working on Sunday to make extra money for his son’s middle school graduation. 

“Everybody’s saddened by it,” a neighbor told the Daily News. “He was a neighborhood guy. Family man. Hardworking. We’re just still processing it. It’s tough.”