All it took was a shrug from a stranger to send accused killer Franklin Mesa over the edge, recalled a Bronx man who was allegedly attacked by the “neighborhood menace” last year.
Mesa, 19, was arraigned Saturday on a charge of murder in the allegedly unprovoked slaying of beloved Norwood resident Nathaniel Rivers, 35, who was stabbed to death in front of his horrified wife.
When Mesa, who is now being held behind bars on $500,000 cash bail or $1.5 million bond after appearing in Bronx Criminal Court in the murder case, allegedly grabbed a Unsuspecting Bryan Diaz in April 2021, he was arrested for assault and quickly released.
“I think it came out the next day,” Diaz, now 20, told The Post.
“I was really mad about the whole situation. When he was arrested, the cops shrugged me off when I asked what else could be done. They said, ‘There’s not much you can do because the system protects him because he has a mental illness. And I said, “thank you?” I was very angry because if he could do this to me, he could do it to someone else or try to kill them.”
Diaz and her mother, Gabriella Calderón, were walking home from her aunt’s house last year when they passed Mesa on the street.
Franklin Mesa, 19, was arraigned Saturday on a charge of murder in the allegedly unprovoked slaying of a beloved Norwood resident. Tomas E. Gaston for NY Post
Mesa greeted Calderón. Since neither of them knew Mesa, Diaz said he shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
Mesa then punched Diaz, attacking him from behind, the victim recalled.
The two began brawling on the sidewalk, with Diaz managing to hit Mesa with his umbrella. Mesa went into his building to call his relatives, Diaz said.
Diaz escaped the assault with only a bloody nose, he said, but he was furious with the police response.
Last year, Mesa also slashed another neighbor in the face, according to Diaz and another resident, Jay Rodriguez, although police sources could not confirm the incident.
The deadly attack that ultimately landed Mesa behind bars happened Thursday at East 205 Street and Decatur Avenue, when authorities and neighbors say the schizophrenic man approached Rivers and began exchanging words with him.
Mesa suddenly plunged a knife into Rivers’ chest as his horrified wife watched, police said, fatally wounding the father of one, who was well-liked in the neighborhood.
Diaz was horrified to hear that Mesa allegedly killed Rivers.
“It’s sad. I think the system really got it wrong and allowed it to happen,” he said. “They could have done more to prevent it.”
Franklin Mesa’s grandmother, Ramona Santos, defended her grandson, saying he was visiting his mother and siblings on 180th Street when the stabbing occurred.
“When he came home that day, he didn’t have any blood or bruises or anything,” Santos told The Post through a translator on Saturday. “He got home, watched some TV and went to sleep.”
An angry downstairs neighbor scared Mesa’s grandmother as she spoke to The Post.
“Your boy should burn in hell,” she cried. “He killed my friend.”
Santos said Mesa has been seeing a doctor to treat her schizophrenia for the past seven years and takes several prescriptions each day. He gave The Post a list of the daily medications he was supposed to take, including the antipsychotic Clozapine, which is used to treat schizophrenia. The other medications were laxatives, probiotics and iron, and he was also instructed to use an inhaler for lung problems.
Surveillance video shows Mesa walking toward the scene of the murder, then running away minutes later with a large knife in hand, prosecutors alleged in their court appearance Saturday. The video also shows him dropping the knife in a stranger’s yard and “running back to his mother’s house,” the Bronx district attorney’s office said.
Mesa lives with his grandmother and aunt, defense attorney Michael Rooney told the court, describing Mesa as “disabled” and noting that he does not attend school.
Nathaniel Rivers, 35, died Thursday in an unprovoked attack.via ABC7
Mesa appeared in court wearing a wrinkled white T-shirt, black shorts, black socks and white sneakers. He wore a surgical mask and had his head down the whole time. His aunt and grandmother were in the back row of the courtroom but declined to comment.
Mesa was the kind of person people in the neighborhood tend to avoid, said Rodriguez, 34, who has been friends with Rivers for 25 years.
“He assaulted a person last year, cut his face. So what is he doing on the street again?” Rodriguez said. “We didn’t see him for a month, but then he came home. What’s the point?”
A memorial to Rivers outside her apartment building included a sign with her photo, messages from loved ones, two empty cognac bottles and at least 50 prayer candles.
Rodriguez described Rivers as the neighborhood mayor.
“Whenever someone came by, he’d always say ‘Hello’ and ‘Good morning,'” she said. “If anyone needed help with shopping bags, he’s the one to help.”
“I’m distraught,” he continued. “You see the boy one day and he’s gone the next. I’ll never see his smile again.”