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An ambulance crew in New York City was stabbed to death on Thursday while assisting a patient in Queens as crime spirals out of control in the Big Apple.
Police say the 61-year-old doctor was assisting a patient in the Astoria ward around 2:30 p.m. when an emotionally disturbed relative of the patient stabbed her multiple times in the neck.
The EMS lieutenant, who has worked for the New York Fire Department for more than 20 years, was then rushed to Mount Sinai Queens, where she was pronounced dead at 3:06 p.m.
Law enforcement officers later said: NBC New York the EMT was wearing civilian clothes after leaving her station when the man stabbed her from behind.
The suspect then escaped authorities and barricaded himself in a nearby building before riot crews went in and were able to arrest him.
Police were seen on the scene of 20th Avenue near 41st Street on Thursday afternoon as they took a suspect into custody.
In a tweet, Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary, Fabien Levy, said the mayor was “initially briefed” about the stabbing and “is on his way to the Mt. Sinai Hospital in Queens’.
He is expected to give a press conference about the situation.
A 61-year-old EMS lieutenant was stabbed while assisting a patient in Queens
According to authorities, the incident happened around 2.30 pm in the Astoria district
Police say the woman was murdered by a mentally ill relative of the patient she treated
The unidentified 61-year-old later succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital
Police remained at the scene of 20th Avenue near 41st Street Thursday afternoon
The incident comes as crime in the Big Apple has increased by more than 33 percent from last year.
The driving force behind the increase is an increase of more than 37 percent in the number of robberies and a 32.4 percent increase in the number of burglaries.
The crime rate is also up 16.6 percent from last year, while major thefts are up a whopping 43 percent.
But the mayor fled the crumbling city this weekend to visit hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, which he calls New York’s “sixth borough.”
Adams arrived in Puerto Rico Saturday night to assess the damage from Hurricane Fiona and reassure people there that New York City is ready to provide immediate relief.
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 focus on the city’s five boroughs instead.
And a woman who was knocked to the ground by a homeless career criminal in a Queens tube station lashed out at the mayor for the trip as the crime wave continues in the city.
“When we get there, we’re alone, we’re fighting these battles alone, and what they’re doing, they’re going to try and 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 a lot of help. We do a lot with this.
“I remember hearing they would have agents on platforms, on the trains, agents on a subway. Mayor Adams said mostly on 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 no one is doing anything for us.”
Elizabeth Gomes (pictured), a security guard at JFK Airport, was brutally beaten by a homeless career criminal at the airport subway station, lashed out at New York 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 assess the damage from Hurricane Fiona and reassure people there that New York City is ready to provide immediate relief.
Adams tours a village outside Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, that was damaged by Hurricane Fiona
The mother of five said that “my life has changed, everything has changed” and that she is “afraid of even leaving my house” and “don’t even want to take the train.”
She said of her ten years of service at John F Kennedy Airport, “You know, I love my job so much, and part of me doesn’t want to go back because I’m scared.”
Her husband, Clement Tucker, echoed Gomes’ previous concerns that she might lose her sight in one eye.
Gomes arrived at Howard Beach station in Queens, New York City, around 5:15 a.m. Sept. 20.
Waheed Foster, 41, tried to strike up a conversation, but when she ignored him, he threw himself at her – dragged her to the ground and kicked and punched her.
Foster, who was arrested for the murder of his 82-year-old foster grandmother in a brutal beating at age 14, rained blows on Gomes as she crouched on the floor.
A man tried to come to Gomes’s aid, but Foster chased him away and continued to attack her.
He then walked away, leaving Gomes on the floor. The drifter was arrested shortly afterwards.
Gomes is grabbed from behind by Waheed Foster, 41 – who she had ignored when he tried to talk to her as she got off the train
Foster, who beat his foster grandmother to death when he was 14, grabbed Gomes
Foster kicked her when she was on the floor and tried to protect herself
She said the doctors told her she could lose sight in her right eye, and she said she couldn’t sleep, with a pounding head.
“Every day is an incident on the subway,” she said. “What happened to all those police officers they said they’d be there to protect us? There is no one to be found. I do not understand.’
She said Foster muttered about Satan when he attacked her.
“He’s talking about the devil. He’s talking about a whole lot of nonsense,” Gomes said.
Foster has been charged with assault.
He has two other pending criminal cases against him, on charges of criminal mischief and petty theft.