A 19-year old man arraigned Friday in connection with last week's stabbing deaths of two subway passengers said he acted in self-defense, according to his attorney.

Brenddy Garcia, a 19-year-old Brooklyn resident, pictured above, was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He did not enter a plea and is being held without bail.

Darnell Morel and Ricardo Williams, both 24 years old, pictured right, were stabbed to death early Sunday morning on a Brooklyn-bound Number 2 train following a scuffle that happened when one of them accidentally hit a man with a bag of beer bottles when aiming for a trash can at the Christopher Street station.

Investigators believe two groups had been provoking each other before the incident.

A third person was stabbed in the neck and arm, but survived.

Garcia's lawyer, Pamela Roth, said a fight broke out after a group of young men broke a bottle over her client's head, causing lacerations to one of his ears, his neck and head.

Roth said the group had been drinking and harassing other passengers.

"My client was not the instigator, he was not the perpetrator and he was also not the one who came onto the train looking for trouble," said Roth. "Anything that occurred [was] after there was an incident that was started by the other group that came onto the train."

Two other 21-year-old men were arrested with Garcia and questioned by police Thursday, but sources said there was not evidence to move forward with charges against them.

The investigation had been hampered by a lack of surveillance cameras at the Christopher Street station, where the alleged attackers are believed to have left the train.

About half the 4,300 security cameras in the subway system do not work, a problem the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it is working to address.

The token booth at the Christopher Street station was also closed last year.

The MTA says it will add 910 cameras throughout the system by June.