'It's scary.' School aide charged in fatal stabbing of female jogger
The alleged attacker remained on the run until Saturday when he was apprehended.
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Arrival at P.S. 200 in Bath Beach on Monday was filled with concern and shock by parents after the arrest of 27-year-old Sayed Mohassib in connection to the fatal stabbing of a woman out jogging on Oct. 30.
Police say Mohassib stabbed 28-year-old Katie Suarez in the neck while she was out for a run along the bike path near Shore Parkway and Bay 17th Street.
Suarez remained on life support for days following the attack. State Sen. Steve Chan announced Suarez's death on Nov. 3.
The alleged attacker remained on the run until Saturday when he was apprehended. During the time of his arrest, Mohassib was employed by the Department of Education as a student aide at P.S. 200.
"The fact that my son actually knows who that person is, it's scary," said Krystal Santiago, whose child attends the school.
Santiago tells News 12 after Mohassib's arrest on Saturday, she showed a picture of the alleged killer to her 7-year-old son and was shocked to hear he recognized the suspect.
Other parents say their kids also confirmed knowing Mohassib and seeing him in the halls.
The arrest also unlocked more of Mohassib's troubling past. Police sources say in 2022, the suspect resigned from the NYPD to join the military. The next year, in 2023, he requested to be reinstated into the police force but due to his psych evaluation his request was denied.
Elected officials say he was discharged from the marines on psychiatric grounds.
Parents are now demanding answers how a man with a troubled past was able to be employed at the school and close to children.
"We would hope that they would do better to have a better system of making sure that someone would be stable and not, you know, get involved with kids," said another neighbor, Anthony.
In a statement, the Department of Education tells News 12, "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. We are supporting the NYPD in their investigation however is needed.”
In a press conference on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he would also be taking a look at the hiring process.
"New York City Public Schools has suspended the individual and is moving to terminate his employment pending the outcome of this case," said Mayor Mamdani.
Mayor Mamdani also says the school is offering counseling.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office says it will decide on Mohassib's indictment in court on Tuesday.
LiveOnNY tells News 12 Suarez saved four people through organ donations and gave another the gift of sight. The recipients were between 12 and 75 years old, and three of them lived in New York.
"Those families, a community, were around their bedsides wondering if they would live, wondering if they would have a chance, to continue to live on, Katie, even in this, you know, horrific act of, horrific trauma to the family, Katie was able to a long time ago say, you know what? I want to be an organ donor," said CEO and president of LiveOnNY Leonard Achan.
