The arrest and charges
A 27-year-old man who worked in a Brooklyn elementary school and once served briefly with the NYPD has been charged in the killing of a woman who was out for a run, NBC News reported. Sayed Mohassib was arrested Saturday in the death of Katie Suarez, 28, who was attacked on Oct. 30 along the Belt Parkway bike path in Bath Beach. Police described the attack as apparently random.
At his arraignment in Brooklyn criminal court on Saturday night, Mohassib was ordered held without bail. The criminal complaint charges him with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Suarez was stabbed at least two times in the neck and taken to a hospital. She died of her injuries several days later, according to NBC News.
What the complaint describes
According to court documents, surveillance video places Mohassib near the jogging path and then shows him running from the area of the crime scene. Detectives relied on camera footage from the neighborhood to identify him as a suspect.
Police said Mohassib told investigators he had been walking on the path carrying a knife. He said he walked to the Verrazano Bridge and back but insisted he had not stabbed anyone, according to the complaint. He told investigators he believed he had to go there or else "people were going to come and kill his family," the complaint says.
Law enforcement sources and court documents also say he told investigators he blacked out and later became aware of himself sitting on a bench, covered in blood.
The complaint says other security cameras recorded him carrying bags of garbage out in his underwear roughly 15 minutes after he got back home. He acknowledged getting rid of the knife and the bloodied clothes he had worn, according to the complaint. He said he had blood on his hands and clothing when he came home, and police found a stain in the apartment that he said he tried to clean. A search was underway Sunday at a sanitation facility for any discarded evidence.
His background
Mohassib joined the NYPD as a rookie in the Bronx in October 2022 and stayed about a month before asking to be reassigned to the military on extended leave. A law enforcement source familiar with his history told NBC News he was removed from military service because of mental health issues. He formally resigned from the department on Dec. 16, 2022. His department-issued firearm had already been taken from him and was never given back.
The NYPD denied his request to be reinstated in January 2023. The source said he was taken to the psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital after behaving strangely when he came in person to ask for his job back.
The source also said police went to his Brooklyn home on Sept. 27, 2024, but he was not there. His mother and sister told officers he had threatened to chop them up. He was located nearby and taken to Coney Island Hospital, according to the source.
School job and the family's account
Mohassib most recently worked for the city Department of Education as a paraprofessional at P.S. 200 in Brooklyn, also known as the Benson School. Law enforcement officials said he kept reporting to work around children after the stabbing. It was not immediately clear whether anyone reviewed his psychiatric history before he was hired.
A department spokesperson said in a statement: "The safety of our students is our very top priority." The spokesperson said the department has suspended him and will move to end his employment pending the outcome of the conviction, and is supporting the police investigation.
Suarez had planned to meet her parents after her run. When she did not show up, her father went to look for her and found her, according to NBC News. Her mother, Yasira Suarez, said her daughter fought for her life in the hospital for several days before she died.
