Former police officer working as school aide arrested over killing of New York jogger

A former police officer who had been working as a school aide has been arrested on a murder charge over the stabbing death of a woman out jogging in New York City. Sayed Mohassib is accused of killing Katie Suarez, who was found with a stab wound to the neck on the Shore Parkway waterfront path in Brooklyn on 30 October and later died in hospital.

According to the criminal complaint, surveillance camera footage shows Mohassib walking towards and then running from the scene around the time of the attack. Prosecutors allege that he returned home, dumped items into a rubbish chute about fifteen minutes later and destroyed blood-stained clothing and a knife. When shown the camera footage, he admitted he was the person in it, officials said.

Mohassib served in the city police department for just over a month in 2022 before taking military leave; his firearm was surrendered in November that year. His final posting with the Marines, at a base in South Carolina, ended in December 2022, and the corps said his early separation did not meet its standards. A later application to rejoin the police was rejected.

The city education department, where Mohassib worked after his arrest-era employment began, has suspended him and said his job will be terminated depending on the outcome of the case. Local representatives have demanded a full inquiry into how a man discharged from the military on psychological grounds came to be employed in a public school. He faces charges of murder, tampering with evidence and weapons possession.