A 28-year-old bank teller is brain dead and on life support after being stabbed twice in the neck in what investigators believe was a random attack while she trained for the New York City marathon.
Katie Suarez was jogging on a popular route through Brooklyn, New York City, on Friday evening when she was assaulted. She had been on the phone to her father moments before the stabbing, telling him she was about half-a-mile away, around a five-minute jog from their planned meeting point outside her workplace.
Attack during training run
Suarez had met her mother shortly after leaving work at around 6.30pm near the TD Bank where she worked in a shopping plaza, a family tradition after she clocked off. Her father, who typically joined them, was running late, so Suarez changed into her running gear, handed her work clothes to her mother, and set off alone.
She ran along the Belt Parkway westbound toward the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, possibly training for Sunday's New York City marathon. At around 8pm, her father called to arrange a meeting point, and Suarez replied she was about half-a-mile away. Nothing concerning came up during the call, according to the New York Post.
Discovery and response
When Suarez did not appear, her father called again, but she did not pick up. The parents split up to search, and her father found her stabbed twice in the neck, on both her right and left side near Bay 17th Street and Shore Parkway. He frantically pleaded with a passer-by to call emergency services.
Investigators believe the attack was random, with no indication of a sexual or theft motive, as her pink cell phone and jewellery were still with her. It is believed Suarez ran another 100 feet after being attacked before collapsing. Blood was splattered on a nearby guardrail. She is now being treated at New York University Langone Hospital.
Family and community reaction
“It’s going to come to light whoever truly did it,” said the victim’s cousin, Gianluca Frances, 19, speaking outside the hospital on Sunday. He suggested Suarez may have been training for the marathon while calling the situation “truly an awful, awful time” and urging “the worst” to happen to the attacker.
A neighbour said on Saturday: “It’s very sad. I’m sad for everybody, but this is close. It’s too much right now. It’s a mad world.” Suarez had worked as a teller at the bank branch for more than five years, according to her LinkedIn. She often jogged along the path, which offers views of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and Staten Island and is popular with walkers, joggers, bikers and fishermen.
