Six-Year-Old Boy Dies In Elevator Stabbing, Seven-Year-Old Girl In Critical Condition
On Sunday evening, two best friends in East New York, seven-year-old Mikayla Capers and six-year-old Prince Joshua Avitto were on their way to get Icees when a man in the elevator of their housing project pulled out a knife and stabbed both children. Police are still searching for the killer.
The boy, known as “P.J.,” was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital, while Mikayla was in critical condition but is reportedly recovering. She was able to provide a description of the suspect, a heavyset man in his 20s. The attack occurred at the Boulevard Houses on Schenck Ave, and the suspect fled on foot after the elevator doors “opened to reveal a scene of carnage… The boy was mortally wounded. The girl stumbled into the lobby before collapsing,” according to the Times.
Dozens of police have been tasked with sweeping the Boulevard Houses for witnesses, but the lack of video surveillance in the building has made it difficult. To make matters worse, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told the Times that in 2010, $400,000 had gone towards installing cameras in the Boulevard Houses, but that the NYC Housing Authority had done nothing about it. They’re now “looking into the matter.”
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