Katie Suarez, the Brooklyn runner allegedly killed by a former police officer, was remembered Thursday as a warm, loving and joyful woman whose smile brightened the lives of those around her.
Family members, friends and neighbors wore purple — Suarez’s favorite color — as they gathered to say goodbye at the Church of Sts. Simon and Jude in Gravesend. The church is less than two miles from the spot where she was fatally stabbed during an evening run.
Grief filled the service, with anguished cries breaking out several times. Rev. Edwin A. Ortiz encouraged mourners to focus not only on the horrific circumstances of Suarez’s death, but on the kindness and friendship she shared throughout her life.
“She was someone we looked for, someone we wanted to be with, talk to and laugh with. Katie was one of those people who will never be forgotten,” Ortiz said.
“Will we remember Katie only because of the way she died? Or will we honor her for how she treated others — how she welcomed people, took time to know them, listened to them and offered advice? We should remember her humor, her patience and her compassion.”
“We can dwell only so much on how she died, but if that is all we remember, we will miss who Katie truly was. She was a gift from God and someone who brought people together. We must never forget that.”
Suarez’s family did not speak during the bilingual service, which Ortiz conducted in both English and Spanish.
Her parents, who discovered their daughter’s body after Sayed Mohassib allegedly attacked her, have publicly called for justice and described the 28-year-old as an “angel.”
Instead, Ortiz offered personal memories of Suarez, saying she treated him like family and greeted everyone she met with the same welcoming smile.
“There was a sense of joy and peace behind that smile,” Ortiz said.
“Together, we must continue the lessons Katie gave us: to smile, greet one another, show kindness, offer charity, love and remain faithful. If we take away nothing else, let us remember the way Katie treated every person she encountered — and the way she treated us.”
Suarez will be buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.
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Hundreds of people attended her wake at Cusimano and Russo Funeral Home the previous evening. On a memorial board, one grieving mourner wrote, “Goodbye, sweet angel.”
Another woman collapsed in tears before the open casket, repeatedly calling out, “Katie! Katie!”
Jerry Rivera Jr. said he felt guilty that Suarez was alone when the attacker targeted her. The Empire State Family Motorcycle Team usually spends evenings at the nearby promenade, but members were not there that night.
“That really bothers us. Many of us have children. I have a daughter myself. Knowing we weren’t there and couldn’t help her is difficult,” said Rivera, 28, who did not know Suarez personally.
Other mourners criticized the poor lighting along the path where Suarez was attacked and urged the city to add more surveillance cameras and police patrols following the tragedy.
“Can you imagine sending your child out for a run and having her never come home?” asked a grieving woman who identified herself as Magdalena.
“Now there are officers there, but it’s too late. She is never coming back.”
Before the wake, dozens of relatives, friends and neighbors released balloons “to Katie” near the water at Caesar’s Bay, where Suarez worked as a TD Bank teller.
Suarez’s alleged killer has said he does not remember lunging at her and stabbing her in the neck as she ran along the Belt Parkway on Oct. 30.
She died from her injuries two days later, but her organs were donated and helped save the lives of five other people.
Mohassib had previously been removed from both the NYPD and the US Marine Corps because of mental health concerns. Despite his troubled history, he obtained work with the Department of Education, beginning part-time last March before being hired this year as a full-time paraprofessional.
