School aide who briefly served as NYPD officer arrested in fatal stabbing of Brooklyn jogger

A public school employee who briefly served as an NYPD officer has been charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old female jogger in Brooklyn last week, an apparently random attack.

Sayed Mohassib, 27, was arrested Saturday in the death of Katie Suarez, who was attacked Oct. 30 on the Belt Parkway bike path. Mohassib told investigators he had been walking along the path with a knife, police said.

He told investigators he blacked out and was covered in blood when he regained awareness, according to law enforcement sources.

Suarez was stabbed at least two times in the neck and was rushed to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries days later.

Detectives used surveillance footage from the area to help identify Mohassib as a suspect. Security cameras also captured him dumping bags of garbage near his home the night of the killing. A search was underway at a sanitation facility for any evidence that may have been discarded.

Mohassib spent about a month with the NYPD beginning in October 2022 before asking to be reassigned to the military, where he was removed because of mental health issues, according to a law enforcement source familiar with his background.

In January 2023, the NYPD denied his request to be reinstated. The source said he was taken to the psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital after exhibiting strange behavior when he tried to get his job back in person.

Mohassib most recently worked for the New York City Department of Education as a paraprofessional at P.S. 200, an elementary school in Brooklyn. He continued to report to work after the stabbing, law enforcement officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether his psychiatric history was reviewed before he was hired.

“The safety of our students is our very top priority. We have suspended this individual and will move to terminate employment pending the outcome of the conviction,” a DOE spokesperson said in a statement. “We are supporting the NYPD in their investigation however is needed.”

Police believe the attack was random.

Suarez was supposed to meet her parents after her run. When she never arrived, her father went looking for her and found her. She fought for her life in the hospital for several days before dying of her injuries, her mother, Yasira Suarez, said.