NEW YORK — A transgender woman is facing murder charges after allegedly stabbing a postal worker to death during a dispute at a Harlem deli, authorities confirmed.
Jaia Cruz, 24, is accused of fatally stabbing 36-year-old Ray Hodges, a USPS employee and father of two, following an argument at Joe’s Deli Grocery on Lenox Avenue on Thursday. Witnesses told police that the two began arguing while waiting in line, and the dispute escalated when Cruz spit in Hodges’ face and stabbed him in the stomach.
Hodges was transported to Harlem Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, according to law enforcement. Two members of Hodges’ grieving family declined to comment, only stating they were “not doing well.”
Cruz, who has a criminal record with five prior arrests, was taken into custody shortly after the incident. Police sources said one of Cruz’s previous arrests in July 2020 involved brandishing a box cutter and threatening another individual in Midtown.
The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing is ongoing, as the Harlem community mourns the loss of a local postal worker and father.