A New York City Department of Education employee has been charged with murder over the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old jogger Katie Suarez in Brooklyn, police said.
Suarez was attacked on the Shore Parkway greenway on the evening of October 30. Her father found her injured on the path, and she was taken to hospital with a stab wound to her neck, but later died.
The NYPD said on Saturday that Sayed Mohassib, 27, had been arrested. He faces charges of second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.
Mohassib did not answer questions as officers escorted him from the 62nd Precinct. He was wearing flip-flops and a red jacket.
Police have not disclosed the circumstances that led to Suarez’s killing or explained what connected Mohassib to the case.
Mohassib is employed by the New York City Department of Education. Police sources said he worked at Public School 200 in Brooklyn and had also been an NYPD member in field training in the Bronx between October and November 2022.
The Department of Education said it had suspended him and would seek to terminate his employment, pending the outcome of the case.
“The safety of our students is our very top priority. We have suspended this individual and will move to terminate employment pending the outcome of the conviction,” the department said. “We are supporting the NYPD in their investigation however is needed.”
His employment has prompted questions from elected officials. City Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso, State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember-elect Chris McCreight said in a joint statement that he was “evidently a mentally disturbed man with no criminal record” and had been an ex-NYPD officer and ex-Marine discharged from the military on psychiatric grounds.
They said it was “troubling” that he had been working as a teacher’s aide in a public school at the time of the attack, adding that the circumstances of his hiring and continued employment warranted a full investigation.
The stabbing of Katie Suarez prompted shock across New York and an intensive search for her attacker. People using the greenway said Mohassib’s arrest brought some relief and the possibility of closure for her family.
Earlier in the week, Suarez’s mother, Yasira, had appealed for the person responsible to surrender, saying: “You took an angel.”
