Maniac charged in FDNY EMT’s demise stares blankly as brutal knifing is performed in NYC court docket: ‘It is actually disturbing’
The maniac accused of ruthlessly knifing a beloved FDNY EMS lieutenant to demise did a weird stint on the stand at his homicide trial Friday — and chillingly confirmed no emotion when confronted with movies of the horrific, random assault.
Peter Zisopoulos, 36, stared intensely into the gallery in Queens Supreme Court docket — full of teary-eyed EMS personnel — as prosecutors performed footage of a person knocking over 9/11 first-responder Alison Russo-Elling, getting on high of her and stabbing her 19 instances on an Astoria sidewalk.
“It could seem like a previous image of mine,” Zisopoulos, seemingly unfazed by the brutal movies, admitted on the stand.
The alleged killer denied being the person within the video, saying the nook the place the savage 2022 assault happened seemed “just a little bit” acquainted.
The video confirmed the killer enter Zisopoulos’ Astoria residence constructing, however he replied “I don’t know” when requested if the attacker went into the unit he shared along with his mom.
Trial attendees — who included Russo-Elling’s grieving daughter — wept brazenly as the 2 graphic movies performed.
The courtroom gallery turned exasperated, with some rolling their eyes, as Zisopoulos was repeatedly caught in obvious lies throughout his testimony.
As an illustration, Zisopoulos — wearing an orange Division of Correction jumpsuit and sporting black eye-glasses — claimed he was asleep in his residence when Russo-Elling, 61, was killed whereas on her lunch break, only a half-block from her stationhouse Sept. 29, 2022.
Prosecutors identified that Zisopoulos instructed The Put up in a jailhouse interview a 12 months after the homicide that he had been house watching “Star Wars” and that surveillance video of the assault was “photoshopped” to border him.
He’d apparently given police a 3rd model, saying he’d woken up at 8 a.m., eaten breakfast, watched the information after which gone again to sleep, till he was awoken by cops knocking at his door.
“You gave an interview to a New York Put up reporter, and also you instructed the New York Put up reporter that you simply had been watching Star Wars. So simply to be clear, you instructed the police that you simply had been watching the information, you instructed a reporter that you simply had been watching ‘Star Wars’ and also you now instructed all of us that you simply had been simply sleeping?” Queens Assistant District Legal professional Johnathan Selkowe pressed.
“These are all three various things.”
Zisopoulos merely responded: “Sure.”
The accused killer was additionally tripped up when he Selkowe requested him how he had sustained a recent reduce on his hand the day of the crime.
On the stand, Zisopoulos claimed he was knifed by cops after he refused to open the door for them.
“I didn’t reply as a result of I don’t belief them. The police are actually imply to me,” Zisopoulos mentioned when questioned by his public defender, Gina Mitchell.
“They known as SWAT & SWAT stabbed my hand. I attempted to cowl the peephole and so they push the knife by way of the peephole,” he ranted. “I bled out and SWAT opened the door.”
However the prosecutor identified that Zisopoulos had instructed cops his hand was sliced a month earlier, however that the wound had not too long ago reopened.
Selkowe additionally pushed Zisopoulos on his reasoning for making an attempt to go away cops ready in his hallway, getting the alleged killer to confess he had a knife in his pocket on the time.
“You understood that if the police got here in, they’d discover the person with the knife?” the prosecutor requested.
Zisopoulo answered: “Sure.”
When requested if it was the identical knife used to kill Russo-Elling, moderately than one he used to eat breakfast, Zisopoulos may solely reply, “I don’t know.”
His attorneys tried to maneuver for the case to be dismissed, saying prosecutors didn’t present proof to show intent past an inexpensive doubt, a transfer that despatched shock by way of the courtroom.
The bid was promptly rejected and court docket dismissed. Jury deliberations will start on Monday.
“I can’t imagine this man has the nerve to disclaim all of this, when it’s clear as day from a number of completely different angles what occurred,” the sufferer’s daughter, Danielle Russo, instructed The Put up after court docket. “It’s an actual disgrace that he’s strolling the earth, and amongst us.”
She mentioned the weekend break was a welcome one, and expressed hope she would return Monday to see Zisopoulos convicted.
“Hopefully this man by no means sees the solar outdoors within the free world ever once more,” Russo mentioned.
“Simply can’t look forward to my household to get justice and this be at relaxation,” she continued. “It’s fairly tough to even see him up there and act so nonchalant about such a vicious and savage assault that he simply denies and says he was sleeping by way of. It’s unreal.”
Russo added, “It’s really fairly unhappy to see the person who he took from us and every little thing she’s accomplished and contributed to the group and every little thing she did all through her life — and the way somebody like this will simply not care in any respect. It’s actually disturbing.”
