Peter Zisopoulos, 34, is schizophrenic.
In 2018, he was transported to a hospital by EMS personnel from NYFD Station 49 in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York, after making anti-Asian threats online.
It turns out he was capable of insane violence. In his twisted mind, on Thursday, September 29, 2022, he got even with the EMS people.
Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, a 24-year EMS veteran who worked the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and would have retired soon, walked by on her lunch break. Zisopoulos, who was loitering in a doorway, came from behind with a knife, knocked her down, and stabbed her 19 times in the chest, killing her.
Russo-Elling had worked at Station 49 only since April 2021 and had nothing to do with Zisopoulos’ EMS transport in 2018. It was her uniform that he attacked. When a passerby tried to help, he went after him with the knife too, yelling obscenities.
He was identified as the attacker using surveillance footage. He barricaded himself in his apartment, but police talked him into surrendering, and he was arrested without further incident. He faces second-degree murder charges that conceivably could allow him to return to the streets someday.
There’s no rhyme or reason to this. Some people are crazy, but you can’t predict violence. Zisopoulos had no criminal record, and his prior hospitalization wasn’t a clear warning sign, because most schizophrenics are nonviolent (details here).
Our society is no good at keeping guns, let alone knives, away from madmen. I don’t know what the answer to this is. Maybe there isn’t one. Read story here and here.