Brooklyn Stabbing: 6-Year-Old Slain, 7-Year-Old in Critical Condition After Man Attacks Children in Elevator
'We're Going to Get This Guy,' Says NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton
A Brooklyn stabbing resulted in one child dead and another left in critical condition Sunday, according to reports. Prince Joshua Avitto, 6, and Mikayla Capers, 7, were in an elevator when an assailant brutally stabbed both of them then fled the scene. Police have vowed to catch the suspect, who is currently unknown.
The Brooklyn stabbing occurred a little after 6 p.m. at Boulevard Houses when Avitto and Capers were playing outside together. They decided to go upstairs to get ice cream from Avitto's apartment on the sixth floor, but on the way up, a man got inside the elevator with them. The suspect, described as heavy-set and in his 20s, then stabbed both children in the torso multiple times with a steak knife in an attack that shook the neighborhood.
Emergency workers arrived on the scene and took young Avitto to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Capers was also brought to the hospital in critical condition but transferred to New York Presbyterian Hospital, The New York Times reported.
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"This is particularly heinous crime," Police Commissioner William Bratton told the Associated Press. "Two young children in an elevator with no place to escape, nothing at all, and some character gets on and just starts stabbing them? ... (Boulevard Houses residents) have every right to be concerned."
"We're going to get this guy," he added.
Extra police officers are currently patrolling the East New York area looking for the suspect and providing security for frightened residents.
"That mother lost a child, but we all lost a child," Clara Woods, the vice president of the Boulevard Houses Tenant Association, said at a press conference. "This is a happy little boy. This is a pleasant little girl. They were going to get an Icee on a nice warm day. When something happens to one, it happens to us all."
Police recovered the murder weapon at the scene and are investigating if Sunday's stabbing is at all connected to the stabbing of an 18-year-old woman Friday several blocks away from the crime.
Capers is still hospitalized on Monday and listed in critical condition.
"Thank God, Mikayla Capers is alive," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. "She is getting exceptional care. We are hoping and praying she can pull through."
