A promising young man’s life was tragically cut short on his 24th birthday after being stabbed in the Bronx nearly three weeks earlier. Jeffrey Jimenez Cruz, a Mount Eden resident, was involved in an argument with an unidentified adversary on Grinnell Place near Truxton St. in Hunts Point around 2:55 a.m. on November 24, 2024, when his rival stabbed him in the chest, according to police.
Medics rushed Jimenez Cruz to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition, but he lapsed into a coma and passed away on December 13—his birthday, his devastated family shared.
“He was in the hospital for 20 days,” said Luz Mendez, 45, the victim’s aunt. “He never regained consciousness. He was trying to defend somebody when he was stabbed. He died on his 24th birthday.”
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined his death a homicide, attributing it to the stab wound he sustained. Investigators have informed Jimenez Cruz’s family that he was killed while trying to stand up for someone else, his uncle said.
“Everybody who knew him, loved him,” said Alberto Castillo, 39. “He was stabbed defending someone else in a fight.”
Jimenez Cruz worked as a security guard for Target but had recently passed the NYPD’s entrance exam and was preparing to enter the Police Academy after graduating from Bronx Community College.
“He was about to graduate from Bronx Community College and join the Police Department,” Castillo said. “They had already accepted him. He passed the test. He was about to go to the academy. We are destroyed.”
The family is now left grieving the loss of a young man with a bright future, as detectives continue to search for the individual responsible for the fatal attack.