A Mother’s Day celebration turned into heartbreak for one New York family after a father of three was fatally stabbed during a shocking altercation over a bus seat.
Alvin Francis, 41, of Queens, was on his way home to join his family for a Mother’s Day dinner when a senseless dispute on a city shuttle bus ended his life. According to the NYPD and multiple local news outlets, the deadly incident unfolded around 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 11, aboard the J90 shuttle bus in Brooklyn.
Francis was reportedly engaged in an argument with another passenger while the bus was stopped near Crescent Street and Etna Street in the Cypress Hills neighborhood. The fight escalated, and Francis was stabbed in the stomach. The suspect fled the scene before police arrived. As of Monday, May 12, no arrests had been made.
“He got into a tussle on the bus,” Francis’ wife, Candice Todman-Francis, 36, told the New York Daily News. “It’s under investigation. I have not one detail. I’m just as lost as everybody else.”
Francis was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital, but despite emergency efforts, he was pronounced dead. Witnesses described a chaotic scene: “I heard some people screaming, so I looked out my window and I [saw] the bus was stopped there, and everybody was running out the bus… in a matter of three seconds the cops were here,” a local resident told News 12 Brooklyn.
Earlier that day, Francis had sent his wife a final message: “See you when I get home.” When he didn’t return, Todman-Francis tracked his phone to a police precinct and called them. Soon after, officers arrived at her door with devastating news.
The couple had been together for 21 years and married for five. They shared three sons and had been planning to renew their vows this August. Francis had picked up extra work that Sunday to help pay for their son’s upcoming middle school graduation.
“He’s a hardworking man,” his wife said. “Work and home — literally, work and home, and his favorite place is Home Depot.”
Neighbors echoed her sentiment. “He was a neighborhood guy. Family man. Hardworking,” one told the Daily News. “Everybody’s saddened by it. We’re just still processing it. It’s tough.”
The NYPD has not released further details, and the investigation remains ongoing.
So who got the seat??