Donations have risen to $2.497 million with pledges from thousands of people to pay legal fees for Daniel Penney, who was captured on video on a Manhattan subway train pinning Neely in a minutes-long chokehold.

Conservatives hail Penny, a 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran, as a hero and good Samaritan for killing the homeless man, Washington Post reported. Others denounced him as a vigilante. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called him a "murderer" and multiple media outlets called him the "subway killer."