Waldo Mejia Should Never Have Been Abandoned — Caleb Rijos’ Blood is on the Hands of NYC Progressives

In news that will (sadly) come as no surprise, the monstrous killer Waldo Mejia will temporarily avoid a criminal trial for his brutal, random murder of Bronx 14-year-old Caleb Rijos.

A Bronx judge has deemed him too mentally unstable to stand trial.

Yet paradoxically, other judges and the justice system at large never considered him too unstable to be wandering the streets freely prior to the murder.

This is an individual who reportedly stabbed a straphanger in a subway station just feet away from the place where he would ultimately take Rijos’ life, merely a week before that tragic event.

Moreover, Mejia had a history of terrorizing neighbors, including kicking in doors and stabbing a Ring camera.

This incident clearly showed to any rational observer that Mejia should have been committed involuntarily before he escalated to more severe acts. 

Instead, he was released on his own recognizance due to the offense being non-bail-eligible under our disastrous criminal justice “reforms.”

And that’s not all; Mejia’s criminal history extends even further.

In 2019, he set fire to his girlfriend’s apartment lobby — and once again, he was released on a conditional discharge. (How could an attack on a Ring camera not warrant his detention?)

In 2017, he was arrested on weapons charges after being caught with a loaded 9mm firearm.

In 2015, he faced charges for possessing a gravity knife.

Time and again, chances were provided to remove this threat from society, whether through imprisonment or placement in a secure psychiatric facility.

Yet, due to reckless progressive policies and a woefully inadequate system for managing violent mentally ill individuals, Caleb Rijos lost his life.

It was a loss that was entirely avoidable.

His death reflects choices made by our disorder-approving elected officials and the mental health bureaucrats who find it too challenging to focus on the most dangerous individuals.

These are choices that leave ticking time bombs free until they finally commit an atrocious act that can no longer be ignored.

A system that only now acknowledges Waldo Mejia’s instability is itself absurd.