Furious aunt of man who was pushed in front of NYC subway train comes face to face with his 'killer' in court: 'I'll rip your f*****g heart out!'

The man accused of fatally shoving a passenger onto the tracks of the New York City subway came face to face with the victim's family in court as he pleaded not guilty.

Carlton McPherson has been charged with second degree murder over the death of Jason Volz, 45, who was pushed just as a 4 train approached the 125th Street station at Lexington Avenue in East Harlem on March 25.

The 24-year-old, dressed in a beige jail-issued tracksuit, appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

Volz's aunt Christine Conte sat in court for the hearing and burst into tears when McPherson was walked out. She was crying hysterically and shouted: 'Why did he kill Jason. This is not okay. This is my nephew.'

At one point, court officers told her she had to leave before she managed to compose herself and was allowed to remain. Following the hearing she said: 'Oh my god, I wanted to leap out and rip his f****** heart out. That motherf******.'

Carlton McPherson has been charged with second degree murder over the death of Jason Volz, 45,

McPherson pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in court on Wednesday

Volz was killed when he was pushed onto subway tracks at the 125th Street station at Lexington Avenue in East Harlem on March 25

Judge Curtis Farber remanded McPherson in custody and ordered him to return to court on August 12.

Prosecutors allege that McPherson approached Volz with his arms outstretched and fatally pushed him onto an oncoming train unprovoked.

They claim he tried to flee before several witnesses pointed towards the suspect who was arrested at the station.

Volz's aunt Conte does not believe McPherson is mentally ill and claims he is just an 'evil person'.

'Just picturing in my head how he was waiting, premeditating in his head, this evil person and shoved just when he knew the train was coming, he pushed him,' she said.

'Now they're going to give him psychiatric treatment? I don't think so. He's just a vicious person, he is mean, he is trouble.

'Does that mean everybody is sick? They all need medication? I don't think so.

'Why do they keep blaming things on mental illness? There are a lot of people out in this world who want to hurt people.

'They're just nasty, just demons and they want to just hurt.'

Christine Conte, Volz's aunt, burst into tears  in court when McPherson was walked out, before screaming: 'Why did he kill Jason. This is not okay. This is my nephew.'

Conte spoke outside court and said 'I wanted to leap out and rip his f****** heart out. That motherf******'

She added: 'My heart is torn and I want to rip him in half. If he does go to Rikers Island I want them to beat the cr** out of him because he deserves to burn in hell. 

'I wanted to see his expression and see this person that pushed my nephew to his death.'

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said: 'As alleged, Carlton McPherson tragically took Jason Volz's life in a vicious and completely unprovoked act of violence.

'Mr. Volz was a father and native New Yorker, and my heart goes out to his family and loved ones in their ongoing grief.'

McPherson has mental health issues, as well as a long criminal history stretching back to age 16.

He was arrested in October 2023 for assault but was freed on bond and is expected back in court on that charge in July.

His brother, Daquan McPherson, has confirmed he was released from a mental hospital just two weeks before the incident, despite his family begging the facility to keep him in.

McPherson has mental health issues, as well as a long criminal history stretching back to age 16

McPherson allegedly approached Volz with his arms outstretched and fatally pushed him onto an oncoming train unprovoked

'The city failed Carlton,' his older brother told the New York Post.

'The city is failing all mentally ill people. There's too much red tape. He just got out of the hospital two weeks ago. We begged them to keep him but they said he wasn't a threat to himself or others so they couldn't keep him and they let him go.

'They released him. In New York City the mentally ill have two options — either they go to jail or do something that lands them in the newspaper.'

He added that his brother had made repeated calls to a suicide and crisis hotline over the last six weeks to no avail.

'Carlton suffers from severe mental illness,' Daquan added. 'He gets to these places where he's incoherent. Carlton would sit in a dark room with no TV, with a hood on. That's not the behavior of a mentally healthy person.

'Once he jumped off a roof because he thought people were chasing him,' Daquan McPherson said. 'I tried my best to get help for Carlton. I literally called 988 [crisis hotline] multiple times in the last six months. I literally begged them.'

Volz's uncle said he had recently turned his life around after struggling with addiction 

Concerned commuters stand in the 125th Street station after a fatal shoving incident occurred 

Daquan denied that his brother is a 'career criminal' and said he was a troubled young man.

'Carlton did not choose the wrong path nor was he a career criminal,' he said. 'He was raised in a church surrounded by love. But, unfortunately, he was sick and did not get the help he needed in time.'

He also offered his 'deepest condolences' to Volz's family, who said the victim had recently turned his life around after struggling with addiction.

'You had a lunatic on the subway and it ended tragically for my nephew,' the victim's uncle, Eddie Volz, told PIX11 News, adding that Volz was a caring person.

'As far as I knew him, his whole life, that would be his top quality. He always cared more about others than he did for himself.'

Eye witness to the tragedy Brendan Daniel described his horror watching it unfold.

'I felt like a pit in my stomach when I heard it, and just felt really sad for the person that it happened to,' he told the outlet.