Friends of social justice activist stabbed in Brooklyn crowdfund​ over $70,000 so they can take time off work to 'properly mourn'

Friends of the social justice activist who was stabbed to death in Brooklyn have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money so that they can take time off work to "properly mourn."

Shortly before 4 a.m. on Monday, Ryan Carson and his girlfriend, Claudia Morales, were waiting at a bus stop in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The couple had just attended a wedding. They walked down the sidewalk and encountered a man wielding a knife, surveillance video shows.

The man screamed at Carson, "What the f*** are you looking at?"

The man threatened Carson, "I will kill you right now!"

Carson attempted to ease the tense situation by telling him, "Chill, chill, chill."

The knife-wielding man then violently stabbed Carson in the chest several times.

The assailant then spat at Morales as she stood over Carson, who was lying motionless on the ground. The attacker then fled the crime scene.

Police arrested Brian Dowling at around 10 a.m. on Thursday. The 18-year-old stabbing suspect was charged with second-degree murder. The judge denied bail.

CBS News reported, "Prosecutors claim two people identified Dowling from the surveillance video and that police recovered the assailant's apparent sweatshirt and knife. They also said the victim's girlfriend did not pick Dowling out of a photo array she was shown."

Carson was a social justice activist who was concerned with climate change and public health and advocated for safe injection sites.

Carson, 32, worked for the nonprofit New York Public Interest Research Group – a self-described organization that "examines important issues, produces studies, and engages New Yorkers in public education campaigns designed to produce policies that strengthen democracy, enhance the rights of consumers and voters, and protect the environment and public health."

During his 10-year tenure at the nonprofit, Carson worked as a project coordinator at a community outreach program and as a senior solid waste campaign manager.

The New York Public Interest Research Group said in a statement: "With shock and profound sadness NYPIRG shares that our long time campaign organizer Ryan Thoresen Carson died tragically after a random street encounter near his home."

The nonprofit said Carson was a "beloved staffer, colleague and friend, and a creative, talented, relentless and upbeat advocate for students and the environment."

"Close friends" of Carson launched a GoFundMe campaign so they can take time off work to "properly mourn" his death.

"We are a collective of Ryan's close friends, reeling from a brutal loss," the description for the crowdfunding campaign begins. "We are asking for your help on behalf of his partner in easing the burden and stress of this horrifying situation so that we can have space and time to grieve, and remember Ryan."

"Immediate needs are to offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn," the crowdfunding campaign reads.

The GoFundMe listing states, "We hope you may find his thoughts on mutual aid, his works of advocacy, and understand that his radical principles of community care, justice, and dismantling an individualized profit-centered way of life are worth carrying forward in our own communities."

The listing concludes by saying, "We thank you in advance for any material support you can provide."

At the time of publication, the crowdfunding campaign had raised more than $70,000 to help Carson's friends take time off of work to properly mourn.

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