Sayed Mohassib, 27, was arrested after detectives said evidence linked him to the Oct. 30 attack on Katie Suarez.
NEW YORK CITY, NY — A New York City Department of Education employee was charged with murder Saturday in the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Katie Suarez, who was attacked while jogging along a Brooklyn waterfront path last week, police said.
Sayed Mohassib, 27, was arrested Nov. 7 and charged with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police and multiple news reports. Suarez was attacked Oct. 30 along the Shore Parkway Greenway in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn. She was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn in critical condition and later died from her injuries. Authorities have not announced a motive, and the circumstances that led to the attack remain under investigation.
Police said Suarez had gone for a run after leaving work that evening. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said earlier in the investigation that Suarez followed a familiar routine before setting out on the waterfront path. She had arranged to meet her parents after the run and spoke with her father shortly before the attack. When she failed to arrive as expected, her father went looking for her and found her injured near the path shortly after 8 p.m. Emergency crews took her to the hospital.
The attack triggered an intensive search through an area where the running and biking path stretches along the Brooklyn waterfront. Investigators asked drivers who had been in the area to check dash-camera recordings and searched for surveillance video that might show people entering or leaving the path. Police initially said the attack appeared to be random because there was no indication that someone knew Suarez would be running there at that time. Her phone, jewelry and other belongings were not reported stolen, weakening robbery as an apparent motive.
Detectives later developed evidence they said placed Mohassib near the scene, according to police and law enforcement sources cited by several news organizations. ABC7 reported that investigators traced him through surveillance footage and that Mohassib made statements during questioning that investigators believe connected him to the case. Authorities also allege that evidence tied to the weapon was discarded after the attack. Police have not publicly released the full evidentiary record, and those allegations have not been tested in court.
Mohassib was employed by the New York City Department of Education at the time of his arrest. News 12 reported that he worked as a school aide at P.S. 200 in Bath Beach, near the area where Suarez was attacked. The Department of Education said Mohassib had been suspended and that the agency would provide support to the school community while cooperating with the police investigation. City education officials have not publicly described any connection between his school duties and the killing.
Multiple outlets, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Mohassib previously served briefly with the NYPD before leaving the department and later served in the military. Reports also said he later sought to return to the Police Department but was not reinstated. Those details have raised questions from local elected officials about the hiring and screening process that preceded his employment in a public school. Officials called for further review of how he was hired and remained employed. Authorities have not suggested that students or school employees were involved in the attack.
Police have not identified a clear relationship between Mohassib and Suarez. ABC7 reported that investigators said the only known link was that both had attended Brooklyn College. Earlier in the investigation, detectives said there was no evidence that Suarez had been followed as part of a known dispute or targeted for robbery. The absence of a publicly established motive remains one of the central unanswered questions in the case.
Suarez’s death brought an outpouring of grief in her Brooklyn community and renewed attention to safety along the waterfront path. Family members and community residents had gathered as police continued searching for the attacker, while investigators focused on a narrow period between Suarez’s final conversation with her father and the moment she was found. The arrest came about a week after the attack and followed repeated public appeals for video and information from people who traveled through the area that evening.
Mohassib is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. No attorney information was immediately available in reports reviewed Saturday, and authorities had not announced a motive. The NYPD said the investigation remains ongoing as prosecutors move forward with the murder and related charges.
Author note: Last updated November 7, 2026.