Wife mourns man stabbed to death in fight over seat on Brooklyn MTA shuttle bus
A man stabbed to death on an MTA shuttle bus in Brooklyn was attacked during a clash over a seat, police sources said Monday.
Alvin Francis, 41, a father of three sons, was fatally stabbed in the abdomen on a J90 shuttle bus near Crescent and Etna Sts. in Cypress Hills just before 2 p.m. Sunday, cops said.
Francis and his killer got into an argument over a seat, police sources said.
'(Cops) just said he got into a tussle on the bus,' the victim's wife, Candice Todman-Francis, 36, told the Daily News. 'It's under investigation. I have not one detail. I'm just as lost as everybody else.'
A source with knowledge of the investigation who has seen surveillance video from inside the bus says it shows the stabber — a black man wearing a light gray hoodie, blue hat and a backpack — getting on the bus via a rear door. Francis entered through the same door moments later and sat down next to his killer.
After a few minutes, the killer stood up and the victim threw a punch at him, according to the source. Both men continued to fight, with the killer going on to stab Francis as the clash escalated.
The stabber fled the bus and has not been caught.
Todman-Francis spoke to her husband earlier in the day and the two discussed what they would have for dinner on Mother's Day.
'See you when I get home,' Francis told his wife, who quickly became worried when he didn't show up.
'I hadn't heard from him so I tracked his phone and I saw him at the precinct. So I called the precinct,' she said, explaining she was worried he'd been arrested.
Officers showed up on her doorstep not long after to deliver the tragic news.
Francis worked as a roofer and his job took him to multiple locations. 'He's a hard-working man,' his wife said. 'Work and home — literally, work and home and his favorite place is Home Depot.'
The two had been together for 21 years, got married five years ago and were planning a vow renewal ceremony for August.. They have three sons together.
Francis was working on Sunday to earn some extra cash for his son's middle school graduation. The shuttle bus runs on the weekend while the J train is out of service.
When asked if she had anything she wanted to say to the killer, Todman-Francis said, 'Do you want me going to jail? Just tell him, 'May God be with him.''
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