'This was justified': Fox News guest defends homicide of unhoused Subway passenger
Jordan Neely, an unhoused 30-year-old Black man, was murdered on the New York City Subway this week by another passenger.
The 24-year-old retired Marine who killed Neely by placing him in a headlock for nearly two minutes has not been arrested and continues to walk free.
On Thursday, Media Matters for America published a segment of Fox News host Harris Faulkner's conversation with Seattle conservative radio host Jason Rantz, in which the pair discussed their thoughts on the senseless homicide.
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"Let's bring in Jason Rantz, Seattle radio host," Faulkner said. "I mean your — unfortunately, but fortunate for us — your experience with this sort of thing living where you do and looking at it across the nation definitely has some response from you. Want to know what it is today," she said to Rantz.
He replied, "Absolutely. I think look, I hear the quote that was used by this man, allegedly, 'I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison, I'm ready to die.' And so when someone says that while they are acting erratically, I think it's fair to say that they pose a threat.
The right-wing commentator continued, "Unfortunately, there are a ton of people who live in New York, who take the subway, who have to deal with this exact kind of behavior every single day. It is undoubtedly a tragedy, and yet a mentally ill homeless man with supposedly 40-plus charges who continues to harass people and not a single Democrat seems to think that just maybe their policies are to blame. There is no introspection at all, just shouting about how he was murdered for being hungry and unhoused. I think the language around this is irrational and unreasonable and I think they're just looking for another fight and this is their opportunity to do just that."
Faulkner then weighed in with his opinion.
"Well, right now they are fighting each other, the Democrats," she said. "I mean, you heard AOC calling it murder and then you heard the mayor of New York City saying that's irresponsible. What's irresponsible is all of those soft-on-crime policies that got us to the point where somebody can kill on the subway in and out of like a gate there, like a ticketing gate. They're just in and out, in and out, in and out."
Rantz echoed, "Yeah. Yeah. How do they get in and out like that so easily? And again, why does no one ever say anything about that, they never have those conversations. They seem to think that someone who is defending themselves, or believes that they are defending themselves and others, they're automatically to blame and the person from the so-called marginalized community is always the victim, but that's not always the case. And as of right now, based on what we know, what we've heard, it seems like this was justified."
Per several reports, Neely was yelling prior to his death: "I don't have food, I don't have a drink, I'm fed up" and acting in a "hostile and erratic manner," but did not harm anyone on the subway.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared her outrage via Twitter Wednesday evening, writing, "Jordan Neely was murdered. But bc Jordan was houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself while many in power demonize the poor, the murderer gets protected w/ passive headlines + no charges. It's disgusting."
The congresswoman continued, "It is appalling how so many take advantage of headlines regarding crime for an obsolete 'tough on crime' political, media, and budgetary gain, but when a public murder happens that reinforces existing power structures, those same forces rush to exonerate and look the other way. We shouldn't."
Watch below or at this link.
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