A career criminal was arrested Christmas Eve after he allegedly went on a stabbing spree that resulted in two people killed, including a pediatrician.
Roland Codrington, 35, was charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of second-degree assault, and one count of criminal mischief, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
At an NYPD press conference Monday, officials explained that Codrington’s alleged crime spree began on December 19 when he fatally stabbed James Cunningham, 51, in the neck. The victim’s body was found at around 1:00 a.m. on Avenue A near East 13th Street.
Cunningham and Codrington were involved in a confrontation before the victim was killed, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.
“There’s no prior interactions. They bump into each other. They have a 20-second, caught-on-camera dispute,” Essig told reporters at a Monday briefing. “Our perpetrator just takes out a knife and slashes across the neck, and then leaves.”
On December 22 at around 11:30 p.m., Codrington was involved in a second incident where he allegedly entered Teddy’s Bar, located at 2171 Second Avenue in East Harlem, with a pit bull and baseball bat.
“He proceeded to go behind the bar, where he assaulted the bartender and destroyed property. When two customers intervened, they were both stabbed with a large knife that the male was carrying,” Essig told reporters. All victims from the second incident suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect was allegedly upset from a previous incident where he was kicked out of the same bar the week prior.
Following the events at the bar, Codrington took a walk to “cool off” in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, where he then confronted pediatrician Dr. Bruce Maurice Henry, 60. The two had a verbal exchange before Codrington allegedly slashed the doctor in the throat, ultimately killing him.
Police found Henry’s body at around 2:15 a.m. on December 23.
Investigators connected the three incidents together and zeroed in on Codrington as the suspect.
Codrington was arrested on Christmas Eve after he was caught allegedly driving the stolen blue Mercedes of the slain doctor at Jerome Avenue and 166th Street in the Bronx. He was taken into custody without a struggle.
Police are now investigating whether Codrington may be connected to any other unprovoked stabbings in the city.
Codrington has an extensive criminal history, where he has been arrested 12 times since 2006. His most recent run-in with cops was a vehicle-related arrest in 2022, according to Essig. He also has several other arrests for assault with a weapon, knife possession, gun possession, assault, knife robbery, and knife assault.
Law enforcement sources told the New York Post Cordington might have as many as 20 arrests, with some of them being sealed.
Major crime in the Big Apple has increased by over 22 percent since last year, with felony assaults up by 12.6 percent, according to NYPD crime statistics. While murder is down, fatal stabbings have increased 37 percent this year, the Daily Mail reported.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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