School Aide Charged With Murder in Brooklyn Jogger Katie Suarez’s Killing
A New York City school aide has been charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old jogger Katie Suarez on a Brooklyn waterfront path last month.
Sayed Mohassib, 27, was arrested on Saturday, 7 November, at his home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and charged with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded not guilty on Sunday morning and was remanded without bail, The New York Times reported.
Police have not announced a motive, and investigators believe the attack may have been random. Mohassib is presumed innocent unless proved guilty.
The arrest and the charges
Detectives tracked Mohassib down after reviewing surveillance footage from around the Shore Parkway Greenway, where Suarez was attacked on the evening of Friday, 30 October. Police sources said video showed a man leaving the greenway around the time of the attack, and investigators followed the trail to his Bensonhurst home.
Mohassib was taken into custody on Saturday morning and questioned at the 62nd Precinct station house, then walked out in handcuffs that afternoon without answering reporters’ questions.
The New York Times reported that he pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Sunday morning and was ordered held without bail. No lawyer for Mohassib had been publicly identified in reports reviewed by NationWire.
What police say happened
Suarez, a 28-year-old bank teller, had gone for an evening run along the Shore Parkway Greenway in Bath Beach, near Bay 17th Street, after leaving work. She was attacked at about 8.15 p.m. and suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck.
She had arranged to meet her parents after her run. When she failed to arrive, her father went looking for her and found her injured on the path. She was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn and died three days later, on 2 November.
NationWire first reported the attack in our earlier story on the Brooklyn jogger stabbed on the waterfront path, when no suspect had been identified.
Police sources told the New York Post that Mohassib told detectives he woke up from a blackout covered in blood and holding the murder weapon, and that he had thrown the knife in the rubbish, which investigators believe was taken to a landfill on Staten Island and then to a dump in New Jersey. That account comes from police sources and has not been confirmed in court.
Law enforcement sources said Suarez, who had been declared brain dead, saved five lives through organ donation. Nearly 100 people gathered for a vigil on Wednesday, and runners have called for better safety measures along the path.
The suspect’s background
Mohassib worked as a paraprofessional at P.S. 200, an elementary school in Bath Beach about three blocks from the promenade. The Department of Education said it had suspended him and would seek to terminate his employment. “We have suspended this individual and will move to terminate employment pending the outcome of the conviction,” the department said in a statement.
Mohassib previously served briefly in the New York Police Department, spending about six weeks in field training in the Bronx in late 2022, and is a former Marine discharged in 2022 for psychological reasons, according to reports citing police sources. He returned to work at the school in the days after the attack, according to the New York Post.
Mohassib and Suarez both attended Brooklyn College at the same time, but police say there is no evidence they knew each other. Suarez graduated in 2020 and had been preparing to run a race with her mother on 14 November.
A community in mourning, and what happens next
The arrest brings a measure of resolution to a case that frightened runners across New York, but it leaves the central question unanswered: why Suarez was attacked at all. Detectives have not determined a motive.
The killing also stands in sharp contrast to the broader picture of violent crime in the United States, where US violent crime fell sharply in 2025, according to the Justice Department’s latest survey. That national trend has done little to ease fear on the Bath Beach waterfront, where residents say a path they long used now feels unsafe after dark. In a separate incident, a shooting at a Tampa office campus that left two people dead underlined how quickly a routine day can turn violent.
Mohassib remains in custody and is expected to face further court proceedings in Brooklyn.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has been charged in the Katie Suarez killing?
Sayed Mohassib, 27, a New York City school aide, was arrested on 7 November and charged with second-degree murder and related offences. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded without bail.
When and where was Katie Suarez attacked?
Suarez, 28, was attacked at about 8.15 p.m. on Friday, 30 October, on the Shore Parkway Greenway in Bath Beach. She was found by her father and died in hospital on 2 November.
Has a motive been established?
No. Police believe the attack may have been random, and say there is no evidence Mohassib and Suarez knew each other.
