A former New York Police Department officer now employed by the Department of Education has been arrested in connection with the brutal killing of a woman in Brooklyn.
Katie Suarez, 28, was fatally stabbed in the neck at about 8 p.m. on October 30 near Bay 17th Street and Shore Parkway in Bath Beach. She had been training for the New York City Marathon, which was just days away, when she was attacked.
Police arrested Sayed Mohassib, 27, and charged him with second-degree murder.
Investigators reportedly identified Mohassib after reviewing surveillance footage that allegedly showed him leaving a Brooklyn park around the time of the killing.
According to the NYPost, Mohassib told officers he could not remember the attack but said he woke up covered in blood with the suspected murder weapon still on him.
Mohassib and Suarez both attended Brooklyn College. Police have not said whether the two knew each other or had any previous relationship.
Investigators believe Mohassib discarded the weapon in a trash can after the attack. He had joined the Marines after leaving the NYPD.
After leaving the Marines, Mohassib reportedly sought to return to the police department but was turned down. He later worked for the Department of Education as a teacher’s aide at PS 200 in Bensonhurst, according to sources.
Katie Suarez, 28, was jogging along a popular Brooklyn waterfront promenade when she was stabbed in the neck shortly after 8 p.m. near Bay 17th Street and Shore Parkway in Bath Beach.
Suarez’s father went searching for her and found his daughter critically wounded and bleeding in a nearby grassy area.
The bank teller was taken to NYU Langone Hospital in critical condition. The severity of her injuries became apparent when doctors determined that she was brain dead.
Suarez worked as a cashier at a nearby bank branch, where colleagues remembered her as a dedicated and professional employee.
One neighbor described her as “very professional, very kind” and “very soft-spoken,” adding that she was a “very nice” person and that her death was “very sad.”
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The waterfront promenade is popular with walkers, cyclists and fishermen and sits in a residential area of southern Brooklyn.
Suarez had been preparing to run in the New York City Marathon when she was killed.
Graphic photographs from the scene showed blood on a railing and red stains across the concrete path in Bath Beach.
The neighbor said Suarez’s kindness toward people in the community had made a lasting impression.
“Nobody is supposed to have their life taken, you know, whether they’re bad or good,” he said. “But she was kind of exceptional to me, the way I interacted with her.”
He described Suarez and her partner as considerate, respectful people who regularly walked through the neighborhood.
“A good teller and good character, you understand? She looked like a very family-oriented woman,” he added.
Another resident, Anna Dece, said she was struggling to process the killing, which happened so close to home.
“I’m very sad. That’s terrible. I’m sad for everybody,” she said. “But this is close. It’s too much right now. It’s a mad world.”
The attack took place along the Bath Beach waterfront, a residential part of southern Brooklyn where people often walk, cycle and exercise along the shoreline in the evening.
The area around Shore Parkway overlooks Gravesend Bay and connects to a broader network of recreational paths that follows Brooklyn’s coastline.
Suarez was training for Sunday’s New York City Marathon when she was attacked and killed.
Photographs from the scene showed a large police presence as investigators examined the area. Blood was visible along a railing near the location where Suarez was stabbed.
