re: FDNY veteran killed in "barbaric and completely unprovoked" New York City stabbing

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An emotionally disturbed man stabbed to death an EMS lieutenant on Thursday, police said — and New York City’s fire commissioner described the attack as “barbaric and completely unprovoked.”

Lt. Alison Russo, a 61-year-old medic, was on her way to get something to eat at a nearby deli when she was randomly attacked on 20th Ave. near 41st St. in Astoria at about 2:30 p.m., authorities said. The scene was a few steps from EMS Station 49 on 42nd St.

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“It happened on the corner,” said an EMS worker at the scene. “He didn’t say anything to her. It was totally random. She was on her way to get food.”

The killer quickened his pace as he approached Russo — and attacked her just as she noticed him, said a police source whose information was based on video from the scene.

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The suspect stabbed Russo multiple times in the neck, said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. “There were two eyewitnesses who know the perpetrator, one of whom gave chase,” said Essig

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Janki Oomraw, 42, the man who gave chase, told the Daily News he saw the 34-year-old suspect outside his business, Peppy’s Auto Repair.

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“He has a bloody knife in his hand. There was blood all over his hands,” Oomraw said. “When he saw me, he tried to hide the knife in his pockets. It was a long knife.

“I said, ‘Yo! What the f--- are you doing man?’ She was down on the floor barely breathing. She was stabbed in the chest. It was multiple times.”

The suspect ran off, and Oomraw said he tailed him to his apartment next door, on the third floor of a three-story building that also houses what is known as New York’s only swingers club.

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Police arrived as the suspect hid out in his apartment. “Cops said he was barricaded with a woman,” said a witness, Frank Millevoi, 50, a retired NYPD officer. “He was in there for about an hour before they talked him out. He was a disheveled guy with glasses. Definitely emotionally disturbed.”

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Russo was set to retire in the next six months, said Uniformed EMS Officers Union President Vincent Variale. “She had grandkids she wanted to spend time with,” said Variale, who spoke to Russo last week.

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Police remove a suspect in the fatal stabbing of an EMS lieutenant from an apartment on 20th Ave. at 41st St. in Queens on Thursday.

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