New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is drawing fresh criticism after offering condolences following the death in custody of a man accused of murder, while making no mention of the autistic victim in the case.
Luis Alberto Lopez Castillo, 20, was discovered in “medical distress” at Queens Criminal Court at about 6.30pm on Wednesday.
Department of Correction personnel performed CPR until emergency responders arrived and transported him to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly before 8pm, the New York Post reports.
“I extend my condolences to the family,” Mamdani wrote on X on Thursday while sharing news of the death.
Lopez Castillo had appeared in court Wednesday for a scheduled hearing on robbery, grand larceny, assault and criminal weapons possession charges linked to an alleged July 2025 incident, according to court records obtained by Gothamist.
He was also charged with murder, manslaughter, robbery and weapons offenses in the September 2025 killing of Ronell Marte, a 26-year-old autistic man.
Police alleged that Lopez Castillo stole Marte’s cellphone during an early-morning attack in the Bronx’s Starlight Park, while alleged accomplice Axel Martinez shot Marte in the chest.
Marte had been heading home after a shift at a nearby Amazon warehouse. His family told News 12 that he had been determined to earn his associate’s degree.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing renewed backlash after extending condolences over the in-custody death of a man accused of killing an autistic man, without mentioning the alleged victim.
Mamdani shared news of Lopez Castillo’s death in custody on social media.
Many online quickly hit out at the Democratic Socialist for failing to mention Marte in his post.
‘He robbed and murdered a 26-year-old disabled man. You’re a monster,’ one X user posted, as another asked: ‘Why do you mourn the death of prisoners and not one single victim?’
‘You have compassion for criminals but 99 percent of the time, you don’t make a tweet when a law abiding citizen is murdered walking down the stairs to the subway or stabbed to death like the young woman who was on her first day back from maternity leave and left an infant and husband,’ wrote a third, referring to the death of Erin Piacenti.
‘You are intentional about all of your posts, so why not call out murders of innocent people too?’ the woman continued. ‘You only call out the death of criminals.’
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‘Here you go again siding with criminals, sending your condolences to them instead of siding with the victims,’ a fourth X user posted.
‘You have no moral compass, no decency, no conscience. Shame on you.’
Much of the blowback echoed criticism Mamdani faced last month after he expressed his condolences to the family of accused killer Clarence Woodward at Rikers Island.
The family of Woodward’s alleged victim, Jose Miranda, called Mamdani’s statement at the time ‘a slap in the face.’
Lopez Castillo was facing murder, manslaughter, robbery and weapons charges in connection with the September 2025 death of 26-year-old autistic man Ronnell Marte (pictured)
Many onlinequickly hit out at the Democratic Socialist for failing to mention Marte in his post
‘It’s terrible,’ his grieving mother, Marisol Miranda, previously told The Post, adding, ‘That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all.’
She argued that Mamdani’s sorrow was misplaced, saying it instead should have been aimed at her son, a 45-year-old dad of two who worked as a barber when he was fatally stabbed at a Bronx laundromat.
‘I’m not happy with what [Mamdani] did and I need him talking about my son. He was killed,’ she said.
Lopez Castillo is now the eighth person to die in city custody this year.
In a statement, Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards said his death was a ‘heartbreaking moment for me and the entire department.’
Richards then vowed that the Department of Corrections would investigate Lopez Castillo’s death alongside city and state officials.