A Bronx father who served more than two years at Rikers Island for a knife attack he didn’t commit was stabbed to death early Saturday outside of a rowdy bar, police and family members said.
Baraquiel Castelan, 32, was stabbed in the neck during an altercation on Feb. 3 outside of El Chicanito, a bar and restaurant on East 153rd Street in Melrose, cops said — leaving some locals to question how nightspots are affecting the neighborhood.
“He would give without getting anything in return,” Olivia Castelan, the victim’s 29-year-old sister, said of her brother.
“He would see someone fighting and he would try to break it up — he never was violent with anybody,” she added. “He gained the community’s respect.”
Outside the bar on Monday a makeshift memorial was set up for Baraquiel, where community members left candles spelling out B-A-R-A, the first letters of his name.
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Baraquiel leaves behind two daughters, 9 and 1, the eldest “in shock” over the sudden death of her father.