A Brooklyn school aide who briefly served as an NYPD officer is charged with murder in the stabbing death of jogger Katie Suarez, and police say he told detectives he blacked out and woke up covered in blood.
Story Highlights
- Sayed Mohassib, 27, is charged with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.
- Katie Suarez, 28, was stabbed in the neck while running on the Shore Parkway Greenway, a waterfront path in Brooklyn, on the evening of October 30.
- Police sources say Mohassib claimed he blacked out and does not remember hurting anyone.
- The city’s Department of Education has suspended him from his job as a teacher’s aide and will move to fire him.
- Officials describe him as an ex-Marine discharged from the military on psychiatric grounds, and police say he was sent for a psychiatric evaluation when he later tried to rejoin the NYPD.
Police Announce Arrest In Brooklyn Jogger Killing
New York police arrested Sayed Mohassib on Saturday, November 7, more than a week after Katie Suarez was attacked on Friday, October 30, while out for an evening run. Detectives took him in for questioning on Friday, November 6, and announced the arrest the next day, saying they had developed evidence that placed him at the scene. He was walked out of the 62nd Precinct in handcuffs that afternoon and did not answer reporters’ questions. He has not been convicted of any crime.
HORROR: Former NYPD Officer Sayed Mohassib Arrested For Fatally Stabbing Female Jogger in NYC https://t.co/7xsoorKKYh #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit
— Deen Coldwell III (@deen_iii) November 8, 2026
Police have not released a motive. According to police and reports, Mohassib told detectives he blacked out, has no memory of the attack, woke up covered in blood and threw the knife in the trash. Police say the knife was later traced to a Staten Island landfill. Investigators first believed the attack was random. Police say the only known link between the two is that both attended Brooklyn College, and there is no evidence they knew each other.
Victim, Location, And Timeline Of The Attack
Suarez was stabbed in the neck on the greenway, a paved path for walkers, runners and cyclists along the water near the Belt Parkway in the Bath Beach area. When she did not show up to a family gathering and stopped answering her phone, her father went looking for her. He found her badly hurt on the path. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Before the arrest, her mother, Yasira Suarez, publicly urged the killer to turn himself in. “You took an angel,” she said. The killing left neighbors shaken, and police spent the next week searching for her attacker before making the arrest.
Employment History And Institutional Steps
Police sources say Mohassib was in NYPD field training in the Bronx for about one month, from October to November 2022, before he resigned to join the Marines. Officials described him as an ex-Marine who was discharged from the military on psychiatric grounds, and said he has no criminal record. According to police, he later tried to return to the NYPD but was sent to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and did not rejoin.
He worked as a teacher’s aide at P.S. 200, an elementary school in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, and police sources say he was on the job there the week of the attack. The Department of Education said “the safety of our students is our very top priority,” that it has suspended him and will move to end his employment, and that it is helping the NYPD with its investigation.
Public Safety, Due Process, And What Comes Next
Local elected officials, including City Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso, State Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember-elect Chris McCreight, issued a joint statement asking how Mohassib was hired and kept on at a school, and calling for a full investigation.
Families across the city want to run, ride and walk on public paths without fear. The arrest gives the Suarez family a name and a case to follow. Prosecutors carry the burden of proving the charges in court, and Mohassib will have the chance to answer them there. Until a verdict, he is accused, not convicted.
Sources:
cbsnews.com, nytimes.com, news12.com, abc7ny.com, silive.com