NYC teen stabbed to death in spat with friend after allegedly drinking in park: family

The teenager stabbed to death outside a Queens subway station Wednesday was killed by a friend with whom she had a tragic dispute, acquaintances and relatives told The Post.

Sara Rivera, 17, was allegedly drinking with pals in a park near the 46th station in Sunnyside around 9:30 p.m. when she got into the fatal dispute with a 15-year-old acquaintance.

“She told me that they were drinking and she was seeing [the suspect] getting very mad and angry,” Rivera’s friend, 16-year-old Yanira Leon, told The Post on Thursday. “Nobody really knows what happened after that.”

Police said Rivera was stabbed in the neck during the fight and was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

It is unclear what sparked the dispute

“Why would you do that?” she added. “I’ve gotten in fights with friends and never had that thought to stab one of them. I would never.”

Rivera and her accused killer were both students at Queens Technical High School. Her family had not heard of any trouble that could have led to her being killed.

“She was always telling me her problems but of course, not every problem was said,” the slain teen’s brother, Aaron Aulet, said Thursday. “Some secrets had to be there.

“Not every friend was there for her,” said Aulet, 22. “But the ones that were were definitely great friends to have. Not to say she didn’t make any enemies because she did.”

Rivera was an outgoing person who was quick to have disagreements with people she knew but would mend fences just as quickly, her brother and pals said.

“She was a very hyper person, always put a smile on people’s faces,” Natalia Carrillo said. “She was always there for people, always, always, always.

“She gave very good advice but didn’t know how to take it herself friendwise and relationship-wise,” Carrillo, 17, added. “I don’t know how this happened. Random people we don’t even know are calling [the young suspect] her best friend, but we didn’t even know her.

“What the f–k? You’re supposed to be chill. You’re supposed to be there for each other.”

Police sources said the accused killer was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon on Thursday, but her name was being withheld because of her age.

Carrillo said Rivera, who was to turn 18 in July — two days apart from her own birthday — dreamed of opening her own hair salon one day, and looked forward to growing up with her.

“She was like my sister,” Carrillo said. “We didn’t know each other that long but we had a connection, and that connection made us like, ‘Damn, we understand each other.’ I always patted her back. She always had my back. We were always together.”

Rivera was the latest in a string of teens killed or wounded in street violence in recent days.

Just hours earlier, a pair of 15-year-old boys were stabbed outside a Bronx McDonald’s.

On Tuesday, 16-year-old Mahki Brown was shot dead by a bike-riding gunman outside the upscale Dominick Hotel in Soho after an earlier dispute between two groups.

Just hours before Brown was killed, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the back outside NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses on the Upper West Side — with the gunman still on the loose.

Also on Tuesday, three 15-year-old boys were stabbed in two separate attacks.

One of them was slashed in the back of the head during an argument on an MTA bus in the Bronx, while the other two were injured at the intersection of South 2nd Street and Keap Street in Brooklyn.

With additional reporting by Joe Marino