On 13 June, Jordan Williams, 20, and his girlfriend of eight months were traveling between their houses on a J train in New York City when another man on the train allegedly began harassing other passengers.
The man, Devictor Ouedraogo, 36, was allegedly moving throughout the car harassing and provoking other passengers, according to witnesses.
He eventually worked his way to Mr Williams, where his alleged harassment escalated into violence, and ended with Mr Williams fatally stabbing the 36-year-old.
Mr Williams was taken into custody and has since been charged with manslaughter.
Here's everything we know about the stabbing death of Devictor Ouedraogo on a New York City subway train.
The stabbing
Mr Williams and his girlfriend were out for the evening on 13 June and were travelling on the J train toward Marcy Avenue and Broadway. Ouedraogo was also on the train, allegedly shirtless and seemingly intoxicated, according to witnesses. Toxicology reports are forthcoming to confirm or deny his intoxication.
He allegedly worked his way through the train harassing other riders, even gyrating in the face of one rider who refused to acknowledge him, according to the New York Daily News.
When he reached Mr Williams, who is Black, and his girlfriend, he allegedly began shouting about "white power" and asked Mr Williams' girlfriend — who has remained unnamed — if she wanted to have sex with him.
The details of the escalation are currently unclear, but what is known is that at some point Ouedraogo punched Mr Williams' girlfriend. The confrontation ended when Mr Williams produced a folding knife and stabbed Ouedraogo in the chest.
A video taken by a witness and reviewed by the Daily News shows Ouedraogo stumbling shirtless from the train car bleeding from his chest. First responders transported him to the nearby Brooklyn Methodist Hospital where he later was pronounced dead.
A witness reportedly told investigators that Mr Williams said “I just stabbed that n*****”, according to the Daily News. “You see him leaking?”
Mr Williams and his girlfriend were arrested a few stops down the line after the stabbing.
Manslaughter charges filed
Mr Williams has been charged with manslaughter and criminal weapon possession in connection to the stabbing. His girlfriend was released by authorities without charges.
The 20-year-old had no prior criminal complaints on his record.
Ouedraogo previously served a three-year prison sentence in 2009 for an attempted robbery in Queens, according to court records.
Mr Williams' attorney, Jason Goldman, said his client acted in self-defence the night of the stabbing.
"We understand that this was a packed subway car during rush hour with dozens of witnesses. We have spoken with some who have already confirmed that the victim was physically violent with others prior to and during this incident," he said.
Mr Goldman expressed frustration that his client was not receiving the same treatment that Daniel Penny, who allegedly killed Jordan Neely after the latter reportedly had been harassing passengers. Mr Penny was questioned and then released for the duration of the police investigation into Mr Neely's death. Mr Penny was ultimately indicted by a grand jury.
Mr Williams was initially kept in custody.
"Is Mr. Williams not getting the same treatment that Mr. Penny received — released, voluntary surrender, and low bail — because his skin color is different and he comes from a particular neighborhood?" Mr Goldman asked. "Instead, those very factors will likely result in Mr. Williams, a young boy, fighting this case of clear self-defense from a cage at Rikers," he said, referring to the city's largest jail.
On Thursday, a judge ruled that Mr Williams could be released without bond so long as he remained under supervision.
Mr Williams' family wept inside the courtroom upon learning he would be released without bail, with Mr Goldman noting that the $100,000 bond sought by the prosecution "might as well be $1m to this family."
Mr Williams' aunt, Amanda Trammell, described the incident as a "very sad situation."
“Jordan is a very quiet, respectful child," she said. "This is obviously an intoxicated or mentally ill person. He did assault Jordan. Put yourself in his shoes.”
An online fundraiser was established to help Mr Williams pay for his legal defence. The fundraiser collected just over $68,000 of its $100,000 goal as of 16 June.
“We are blessed that a Judge has allowed my son to fight his case alongside his lawyer from the outside but there is still a way to go in having these charges completely dismissed,” the family said in a post on the fundraising page.
Comparisons to Daniel Penny
The stabbing is the second subway altercation to end in a death in recent months; in May, ex-US Marine Daniel Penny put Jordan Neely, a Black busker experiencing homelessness who allegedly had been harassing other subway riders, in a chokehold. Mr Neely eventually died due to the chokehold.
The encounter was captured on witness video and sparked a national debate over whether or not Mr Penny was in the wrong for stopping a man who had been allegedly harassing other riders.
Many conservatives decried his eventual arrest and manslaughter charges, claiming he was acting in the defence of other passengers from an individual they argued was possibly unstable and dangerous.
Mr Neely's family has argued that Mr Penny had no regard for Mr Neely's life and felt "entitled" to take it as a result.
A witness on the train the night Ouedraogo was stabbed told ABC7 that Mr Williams was not the aggressor, but also said he went too far in stabbing the man.
"It's certainly something he didn't start or would have probably been involved in if it weren't for, you know, the guy who was killed being the aggressor," the witness said. "But you can't kill someone just because, you know, they started a fight with you."
Those sentiments were similar to the complaints made against Mr Penny following Mr Neely's death, including those made by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who advocated on behalf of Mr Neely’s family.
Mr Williams' family said that the similarities between Mr Penny's case and Mr Williams' are only similar because they occurred on a train.
“The only comparison is that they both happened on the train,” April Williams, Jordan's mother, said. “I don’t know what else to say. I know my Jordan [acted in] self-defense.”
