The horrific killing of FDNY Lt. Alison Russo-Elling last week brings heartbreak to a city reeling from escalating violence against women.
Russo-Elling, 61, a 25-year EMS veteran, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack in Astoria, Queens, on Sept. 29.
She was among the heroes who responded to the 9/11 attack at the Twin Towers.
Peter Zisopoulos, 34, was charged with murder and illegal weapon possession in the crime.
Russo-Elling’s heartbroken elderly parents condemned the crime after leaving the New York City Medical Examiner’s office and identifying the body of the fallen FDNY hero.
“People who work in the city don’t want to go into the city anymore because of what’s happening, not only on the subways [but] on the streets,” Russo-Elling’s mother, Catherine Fuoco, 85, told the New York Post.
While the needs of the mentally ill should not be ignored, neither should the wellbeing of New Yorkers.
Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel–Annunciation Parish in Williamsburg and a chaplain for the FDNY, said that the city needs to find a balance between helping those in need and reducing attacks like these.
“Mental illness is a big issue,” he said. “We have to take everything into account, but also we have to keep our streets safe.”
How many women in New York City have to die in unprovoked attacks at the hands of a crazed killer who is not receiving mental health treatment?
The NYPD reported that there was a 35.6% increase in serious crimes this past summer compared to last year, and reports of sexual assault are up more than 10%.
On top of that, random attacks seem to be occurring at a higher-than-usual rate.
As FDNY Acting Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said of Russo-Elling’s death, it was “heartbreaking,” adding she was stabbed in a “barbaric and completely unprovoked attack.”
We started the year with Michelle Go being shoved by a deranged stranger in front of a train in Times Square.
Her alleged killer, Simon Martial, was deemed unfit to stand trial.
Christina Yuna Lee in February was a stabbing victim at the hands of a stranger who followed her home on the Lower East Side. The assailant, Assamad Nash, 25, was charged with first-degree murder, burglary, and sexually motivated burglary.
Also, in February, Dorothy Clarke- Rozier, 50, was stabbed to death on a Brooklyn street while she was going to work. Her alleged killer, Anthony Wilson, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Zisopoulos, it was learned over the weekend, may have had a motive for the attack. In 2018 he was transported by EMS to Elmhurst Hospital as an emotional disturbed person after making threatening comments to Asians.
“We lost one of our heroes,” Mayor Eric Adams said during a press briefing, but what is the city doing to protect women on the streets and subways?
The city needs to step up its enforcement efforts against dangerous mentally ill men, who are predators of women.
As the Church seeks compassion for those less fortunate, there also needs to be a balance in our compassion for these victims of horrendous crimes being perpetrated against women.
