A 27-year-old former police officer has been charged with second-degree murder following the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Katie Suarez while she jogged along a Brooklyn waterfront path last month, according to police and court records released after his arrest.
The Shore Parkway Greenway Attack
Katie Suarez was running along the Shore Parkway Greenway in Bath Beach around 8:15 p.m. on October 30 when she was attacked from behind and stabbed in the neck at least two times. The 28-year-old TD Bank teller was training for an upcoming race she planned to run with her mother on November 14.
My joint statement with @Sen_Gounardes and Assembly Member-Elect @chrismccreight on the apprehension of Katie Suarez’s murderer. pic.twitter.com/gq9NiguaEf
Katie was from El Salvador and graduated from Sunset Park High School in 2016, later earning an associate’s degree from Kingsborough Community College in 2018 and a bachelor’s degree in television and radio from Brooklyn College in 2020. She had started working as a teller for TD Bank in 2021 and was an avid runner who had completed races with the New York Road Runners.
Earlier that evening, Suarez had finished her shift at TD Bank at Caesar’s Bay in Bath Beach around 6:30 p.m. and met her mother at a nearby Wendy’s restaurant about 20 minutes later. The pair rendezvoused with her father at that location, after which Suarez changed into her running attire and departed. Because her father, who drives a route in Brooklyn, was running behind schedule, she began her run prior to his arrival.
Joint statement from Council Member @kaymsanto, Assemblyman-elect @chrismccreight, and I on the arrest of the man who stabbed and killed Katie Suarez. pic.twitter.com/rywsD0z1IP
Roughly an hour later, her father called her to see where she was, and she told him she was about half a mile away and would meet him shortly.
When she did not arrive at a planned meeting spot after telling her father she was about half a mile away, her parents searched the unlit path and her father found her bleeding under a tree, stopping a passing cyclist and asking him to call 911.
She was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she clung to life for three days on a respirator before succumbing to her injuries on November 2. Her mother issued an emotional public plea for witnesses, stating, Please, if someone saw something, speak up.
A vigil was organized by Bishop Erick Salgado, and community members such as Frank Petralia expressed their sorrow over the tragedy.
Surveillance Tracking and Arrest of Sayed Mohassib
Investigators tracked the suspect through facial-recognition technology and government records after surveillance cameras captured a man walking toward the running path and later running from the area. Police arrested 27-year-old Sayed Mohassib on November 7, charging him with second-degree murder, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with physical evidence.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny noted that a license plate reader on the Belt Parkway showed some 1,700 cars drove by the area at the time, and investigators deployed drones, K9 units, aviation units, and scuba divers while tracking down vehicles and reviewing surveillance footage.
According to the criminal complaint, Mohassib told detectives he went to the bike path carrying a knife because people were going to come and kill his family,
as reported by the New York Post. Prosecutors stated that Mohassib admitted he returned home, disposed of his bloody clothing, and got rid of the weapon in a garbage chute, while also acknowledging he had blood on his hands and transferred some of it to a wall in his apartment, which he attempted to clean.
Ex-cop Sayed Mohassib had NYC jogger Katie Suarez's blood splattered over his apartment walls after alleged murder: prosecutors https://t.co/BVXxUvPGMD pic.twitter.com/YPiMrjyUZw
Information provided by two law enforcement sources close to the investigation indicates that he reportedly made remarks to law enforcement concerning a knife walk along the Belt Parkway alongside assertions that he lost consciousness and subsequently woke up covered in blood. Citing worries about his physical safety amid intense media scrutiny, defense attorney Edward Mandery petitioned authorities to place his client in protective custody.
Oh my God, I’m gonna cry.
He Resigned from the NYPD and Received a Psychiatric Discharge
He officially resigned from the police department on December 16, 2022, while still on his military assignment, and his NYPD-issued firearm had already been removed and was never returned to him. After leaving the NYPD, he served in the United States Marine Corps before reportedly being discharged on psychiatric grounds.
In January 2023, the department denied his request to be reinstated after supervisors observed erratic behavior, a disheveled appearance, and other disturbing signs during an in-person visit, leading to him being taken to the psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital for a mental health evaluation. Police records indicate he was never reinstated to the NYPD.
Law enforcement sources noted a subsequent police response to his Brooklyn home on September 27, 2024, where his mother and sister told officers that he threatened to chop them into pieces
or chop them up.
Scrutiny Over Public School Employment
Elected officials and lawmakers raised serious questions regarding how he came to be employed in a public school despite his documented history, with a Department of Education spokesperson stating in a release, 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,
adding that We are supporting the NYPD in their investigation however is needed.
Department of Education officials confirmed they are supporting the NYPD in their investigation and providing support and resources to the school community.
