Ex-NYPD cop arrested for fatal slashing of Brooklyn jogger

An ex-New York City police officer who was kicked off the force after being deemed psychologically unfit has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a Brooklyn jogger.

Sayed Mohassib, 27, was charged with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon Saturday in the October 30 killing of Katie Suarez. The 28-year-old was fatally stabbed in the neck while running along the Shore Parkway Greenway near her home.

Mohassib, who was working as an elementary school aide at the time of his arrest, allegedly told investigators he had no memory of the attack but woke up covered in blood and holding a knife, according to police sources cited by the New York Post.

Investigators tracked Mohassib to his Bensonhurst home after surveillance footage allegedly showed him leaving the park around the time Suarez was attacked. Police believe he disposed of the weapon in the garbage, which was taken to a Staten Island landfill before eventually ending up at a New Jersey dump, the outlet reports.

Suarez, a TD Bank teller training for an upcoming race, was following her usual waterfront running route after work on October 30. She planned to meet her parents afterward.

She spoke to her dad on the phone around 7:56 p.m., telling him she was about half a mile away and would meet him shortly, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. When she never arrived, her dad went looking for her and found her unconscious beneath a tree along the waterfront path around 8:16 p.m.

Suarez was taken to the hospital with serious neck injuries. She was later declared brain dead but remained on life support so her organs could be donated. She died three days after the attack.

The circumstances surrounding Mohassib's arrest prompted interest in his previous time in law enforcement and the military.

Mohassib initially worked as a paraprofessional for the NYC Department of Education before joining the NYPD in 2022. However, he spent only about six weeks on the force before leaving to enlist in the Marines, according to the Post.

The military later discharged him after determining he was psychologically unfit for service, police sources told the outlet. Mohassib subsequently attempted to rejoin the NYPD but was denied and returned to working for the city's education department.

He was employed as a paraprofessional at PS 200 in Bensonhurst, just blocks from the waterfront area where Suarez was attacked.

Mohassib returned to the elementary school in the days after the stabbing, but colleagues reportedly became concerned by his erratic behavior and incoherent speech. They alerted police, although those reports were not what ultimately led investigators to him, according to the Post.

Resurfaced photographs of Mohassib also show him wearing an NYPD dress uniform and posing in a Brooklyn College basketball uniform. He attended Brooklyn College during the same period as Suarez, although investigators have not established whether the two knew each other, according to the outlet.