NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday that he ordered a "full review" into how the man accused of murdering a Brooklyn jogger ended up working in the city's public school system given his reportedly erratic past.
Sayed Mohassib—the 27-year-old suspect in the deadly stabbing of jogger Katie Suarez, 28, on a Bath Beach waterfront path last month—was a public school aide at P.S. 200 in the same neighborhood.
Asked Monday about Mohassib's role as an educator, Mamdani said he’d ordered a full review and that NYC Schools have suspended him and moved to terminate his employment pending the outcome of the case.
“Nothing is more paramount than the safety of our students,” the mayor said.
According to reports, Mohassib briefly served in the NYPD in 2022, only lasting about a month before joining the Marines. Two months later, he was discharged from the Marines for psychological reasons. He tried to reapply to the NYPD but was denied, reportedly because he was acting erratically during the interview.
Mohassib faces charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon in the stabbing death of Suarez on the night of Oct. 30.
Police said Suarez was stabbed twice as she jogged along the Shore Parkway Greenway, near Bay 17th Street. She was discovered by her father after she failed to meet him as they'd planned.
Katie Suarez, of Brooklyn, was killed in the attack on the Shore Parkway Greenway, near Bay 17th Street, around 8 p.m. on Oct. 30.NYPD, Citizen App
According to court documents, Mohassib told investigators that he was on the bike path the day of the stabbing because he believed “people were going to come and kill his family.” He said he eventually “became covered in blood.”
Mohassib is being held without bail and is expected to return to court Tuesday.
Mohassib’s mother, Fatma Mohassib, acknowledged to ABC7 that her son had a history of mental health issues. She called him an "excellent boy" and said “he never attack me, he never attack his sister, he never attack anyone in the neighborhood.”
"He's a black belt, he goes to Boy Scouts all his life, goes to the mosque all his life, he goes to Brooklyn College, the team basketball, excellent boy," she said.
She said "my heart go deep" for the parents of Suarez, adding, "we both lost... they lost their daughter, I lost my son."
