HEARTBREAKING

EMS Worker Fatally Stabbed in New York, Officials Say

The 61-year-old lieutenant was in Queens on Thursday when a 34-year-old man stabbed her multiple times “about the body,” officials said.

A 34-year-old man was taken into custody for the fatal stabbing of a 20-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department on Thursday, authorities said. The 61-year-old EMS lieutenant, Alison Russo, was on duty when she was “viciously assaulted” with a knife by the suspect, who stabbed her “numerous times about her body,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a press conference. Essig added that Russo had been “on her break and was going to get food nearby,” a statement that was swiftly corrected by Vincent Variale, the president of the local uniformed EMS union. “She was not on a break,” Variale clarified. “I heard the word ‘break’ being used. EMS does not get breaks.” Mayor Eric Adams then chimed in: “If any term was used to give the impression that this hero was in any way taking a break or not taking a break, that is not the reality... She was there for a reason and no matter what the reason was, she should not have been murdered in this fashion.” Answer the Call, a fund to benefit FDNY and NYPD families, announced earlier on Thursday that it would give $50,000 to Russo’s family.