By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-19 23:17:46 | Updated at 2024-11-20 01:40:35
2 hours ago
The three innocent New Yorkers slaughtered by a knife-wielding madman while going about their daily lives were remembered Tuesday as a a kindly construction worker, an avid fisherman and the mother of an 8-year-old boy.
The shocking Manhattan stabbing spree allegedly carried out by Ramon Rivera, 51, in broad-daylight Monday left people who knew the victims dumbfounded, they told The Post a day after the random attacks.
The first victim — Angel Gustavo Lata-Landi, 36, a construction worker waiting for a ride home from a Chelsea work site when Rivera allegedly knifed him in the stomach — was a regular at a Peekskill bodega near the boarding house where he lived, said clerk Maria Rivas, 24.
“This is crazy because he’s very nice, very quiet,” Rivas told The Post. “He comes here every day. I’m very, very sad.”
His family — who watched Rivera’s arraignment in Manhattan court Tuesday with tear-filled eyes — declined to comment.
Outside the courtroom, Lata-Landi’s loved ones held signs and pressed officials to keep Rivera behind bars, Gothamist reported.
“He died working, and we just want justice,” his sister Vertha Land told the outlet. “The city should take responsibility for the disaster we’ve been left with.”
The second victim, Chang Wang, 67, was minding his business while fishing in the East River when he was stabbed to death.
A lone, unlit candle with a fishing hook taped to it stood as a tiny, yet potent memorial Tuesday at the spot near The Water Club where prosecutors said he was found in a pool of blood.
A graffiti cleaner from Graffiti-Free NYC in a rubber overcoat, mask and face shield washed the blood-streaked pavement.
Murray Hill resident Brian Keith said he often saw the fisherman during his daily walks with his dog, Wander, along East River Esplanade.
“It’s scary,” Keith said. “I was down here yesterday so the stabber had to have passed me.
“I feel for the fisherman, but I also feel for the homeless guys because if you’re out on the street for days, weeks or months, you’re going to go crazy.”
The third and final victim — Wilma Augustin, 36 — was stabbed near the United Nations building and later succumbed to her wounds at a hospital, cops said.
Augustin lived in the Americana Inn, a nearby migrant family shelter, where a resident confirmed she was the single mom of a boy.
The woman resident said Augustin was Haitian and she often ran into her by the shelter’s communal microwave, heating up food for her child.
“She was a very good lady,” she said.
“She didn’t mess with anyone.”
Mayor Eric Adams said during his weekly off-topic briefing Tuesday that Augustin’s child is 8 years old.
“That family came here to pursue the American dream,” he said. “And now that child — how do you explain to that child what happened?”
