A New York City EMT was stabbed to death while rendering aid to a patient in Queens on Thursday as crime in the Big Apple continues to spiral out of control.
Police say the 61-year-old medic was rendering aid to a patient in the Astoria neighborhood at around 2.30pm, when an emotionally disturbed relative of the patient stabbed her multiple times in the neck.
The EMS lieutenant, who has worked for the Fire Department of New York for more than 20 years, was then rushed to Mount Sinai Queens, where she was pronounced dead at 3.06pm.
Law enforcement officials later told NBC New York the EMT was wearing civilian clothes after leaving her station when the assailant stabbed her from behind.
The suspect then escaped authorities and barricaded himself inside a nearby building before riot crews went in and were able to arrest him.
A 61-year-old EMS lieutenant was stabbed while rendering aid to a patient in Queens
Police were seen remaining on the scene of 20th Avenue near 41st Street Thursday afternoon as they took a suspect into custody.
In a tweet posted at 3.20pm, Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary, Fabien Levy, said the mayor has been ‘initially briefed’ on the stabbing and ‘is enroute to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Queens.’
He is expected to provide a news conference about the situation, as dozens of emergency workers gathered outside the hospital, consoling each other.
In the meantime, authorities are asking the public to avoid the area of Steinway Street and 20th Avenue.
Authorities say the incident happened at around 2.30pm in the Astoria neighborhood
Police say the woman was killed by a mentally ill relative of the patient she was treating
The unidentified 61-year-old later succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital
Police remained on the scene of 20th Avenue near 41st Street Thursday afternoon
A large contingent of law enforcement and FDNY was seen gathered after the stabbing
The incident comes as crime in the Big Apple is up over 33 percent from last year.
Driving the increase is a more than 37 percent increase in the number of robberies, and a 32.4 percent increase in burglaries.
Felony assaults are also up 16.6 percent over last year, while grand larcenies are up a whopping 43 percent.
But the mayor had fled the crumbling city over the weekend to visit hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, which he refers to as New York’s ‘sixth borough.’
Adams arrived in Puerto Rico on Saturday night to survey the damage from Hurricane Fiona and reassured the people there that New York City is ready to provide immediate assistance.
He returned from the trip on Tuesday, after telling San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero that Puerto Rico is the ‘sixth borough of New York. We’re tied at the hip.’
But Adams’ words were criticized on social media by many New York residents who said the mayor should be focusing on the city’s five boroughs instead.
And a woman who was punched to the ground by a homeless career criminal at a Queens subway station lashed out at the mayor for the trip as the city’s crime wave continues.
‘When we’re out there, we’re by ourselves, we’re fighting these battles by ourselves, and what they do, they go try to help other countries that have nothing to do with what we’re going through in our own place,’ Elizabeth Gomes, 33, told the New York Post.
She added: ‘Our city needs major help. We’re going through a lot here.
‘I remember hearing that they would have cops posted on platforms, riding the trains, cops down in a subway. Mayor Adams said especially in the subway,’ she said of Adams’ proposal to increase patrols.
But she said she now believes her injuries are proof that the mayor hasn’t put more cops in subway stations, saying ‘Obviously, the government or nobody is doing anything for us.’
Elizabeth Gomes (pictured), a security guard at JFK Airport was savagely beaten by a homeless career criminal at the airport subway station lashed out at New York City Mayor Eric Adams and local politicians for failing to stop the Big Apple’s crime wave
New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrived in Puerto Rico on Saturday to survey the damage from Hurricane Fiona and reassured the people there that New York City is ready to provide immediate assistance
Adams tours a village outside Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, which was damaged by Hurricane Fiona
The mother of five children said that ‘my life has changed, everything changed’ and that she’s ‘scared to even leave my house’ and doesn’t ‘even want to take the train.’
She said of her decade-long service at John F Kennedy Airport: ‘You know, I love my job so much, and part of me, like, doesn’t want to go back because I’m scared.’
Her husband, Clement Tucker, echoed Gomes’ previous worries that she may lose her eyesight in one eye.
Gomes arrived at the Howard Beach station in Queens, New York City, at around 5:15am on September 20.
Waheed Foster, 41, tried to start a conversation, but when she ignored him he flung himself at her – dragging her to the ground then kicking and punching her.
Foster, who was arrested for murdering his 82-year-old foster grandmother in a brutal beating at the age of 14, rained blows down Gomes as she cowered on the floor.
One man tried to come to Gomes’s aid, but Foster chased him away and then resumed attacking her.
He then walked away, leaving Gomes on the floor. The vagrant was arrested shortly after.
Gomes is seen being grabbed from behind by Waheed Foster, 41 – who she had ignored as he tried to speak to her when she got off the train
Foster, who beat his foster grandmother to death when he was 14, grabbed Gomes
Foster then kicked her as she lay on the ground, trying to shield herself
She said doctors told her she may lose her sight in her right eye, and she said she has been unable to sleep, left with a throbbing head.
‘Every day is an incident in the subway,’ she said. ‘What happened to all these police officer they said they will have there to protect us? There’s like nobody to be found. I don’t understand.’
She said Foster was muttering about Satan when he attacked her.
‘He’s talking about the devil. He’s talking about a whole bunch of nonsense,’ Gomes said.
Foster has been charged with felony assault.
He has two other pending criminal cases against him, on charges of criminal mischief and minor theft.
