Metro stabbing victim was aspiring fashion designer, musician pursuing dreams in LA, family says
SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A suspect turned himself in to police overnight Wednesday after being sought in connection with the fatal stabbing of a passenger earlier this week on a Metro light-rail train in South Los Angeles, authorities said.
Note: For the latest update on this story, please see report here.
Carlos Carrillo-Martinez, 19, surrendered to the Los Angeles Police Department at the agency's 77th Area station at midnight, according to a Thursday news release. He was booked on suspicion of murder after being interviewed by detectives.
The victim, 27-year-old Jalil Sosa Illera, was stabbed multiple times on an E Line train near Los Angeles Trade-Technical College on Tuesday afternoon following an altercation with the suspect, according to the LAPD.
Illera managed to make it home after being stabbed and called 911, the LAPD said. Firefighter-paramedics took him to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Illera's family told Eyewitness News he was an aspiring fashion designer and musician. At 18, he left his home in New York for Paris and later moved to Los Angeles, where he went to school and started his own clothing brand called ILL ERA.
His family is still coming to terms with the killing.
"I feel like the city that he loved killed him," said his mother, Brigette Rangel. "It's something that no parent should go through."
She described her son as a "go-getter - he knew what he wanted in life."
All those dreams were cut short after Jalil got into an altercation on the Metro train that spilled onto the platform. The other person pulled out a knife and stabbed him and was seen on surveillance video walking away.
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After the incident, investigators released photos and video footage of the man wanted in connection with the homicide. The video shows the suspect waiting on a Metro platform.
Carrillo-Martinez "admitted being the suspect on (the) flyer and was interviewed by detectives," the LAPD statement said.
His bail was set at $2 million.
"This guy is locked up, and we just, he's losing his life as well and you don't know how justice is going to be for him but we definitely want justice for our son," said Jalil's mother.
Jalil's brother, Fabian Elijah Illera, said the family is trying to remember all their good memories.
"I try to focus on the positives. The memories he's left us with. But I can't get out of my head how brutal he was murdered. I can't think about the trail of blood. He was left behind with, walking home. His body just left there like the way it was treated. And nobody did anything and it's hard to get that out of my mind."
Murders on the Metro system, while up from pre-pandemic years, are rare. There were six murders reported in the 12 months between October 2022 and September 2023.
Anyone with information about the stabbing is asked to call LAPD Central Bureau Homicide Detectives John Meneses or Justin Howarth at (213) 996-4144. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
