Brooklyn man, 83, just released from hospital for pacemaker when stabbed dead in elevator by young neighbor on spree: ‘Kill someone your own age!’

An octogenarian stabbed to death in his Brooklyn apartment building’s elevator was the survivor of a string of heart attacks — and was returning from an overnight hospital stay related to his pacemaker — when he was cornered by his unhinged young neighbor.

Ramon “Flaco” Cintron, 83, still had a zest for life and never let sickness or injury get him down, his relatives said Sunday as they gathered to mourn his death.

“He would have lived at least a few more years. He has survived five heart attacks and at least two robberies, ulcers, and part of his stomach was gone,” said nephew, Angel Cintron Jr. “He survived it all.”

“He had just left the hospital and was getting his spirits up,” Cintron Jr., 38, said of the day his uncle was senselessly slain in the unprovoked attack. “When you are that age, you go to the hospital whenever you don’t feel well.”

Police found Cintron dead in an elevator in his Wyckoff Gardens NYCHA building on Nevins St. near Baltic St. about 2:20 p.m. Saturday, stabbed multiple times in the neck and right arm.

The killer “chose an elevator where he could trap him and overpower an old man,” Cintron Jr. said. “Kill someone your own age!”

Cops are looking for a resident of the building more than 50 years Cintron’s junior, Joevani Vale, who they believe punched one woman and slashed another, both strangers, on the street nearby in a 90-minute spree of unprovoked attacks before Cintron was found slain.

“He survived everything, New York in the ′80s and ′90s,” Cintron’s ex-sister-in-law, Jeanette Cintron, 60, said of the victim. “And all it took was one crazy-a— maniac.”

Before Cintron’s killing, Vale punched a 47-year-old woman in the shoulder on Pacific St. and Third Ave. at about 12:50 p.m., cops said. About 40 minutes later he slashed a 31-year-old woman in her right thigh on Nevins St. near Dean St., according to police.

Police released surveillance video of Vale, 26, on Saturday, then put out his name and mugshot Sunday but he remains on the loose. Cops were stationed outside the door of Vale’s fourth-floor apartment Sunday, 15 floors below Cintron’s home.

“This guy was just out to victimize people, to take out his anger and hate on others,” Cintron Jr. fumed of the suspect.

“He went after two women and an old man,” the victim’s niece, Elise Cintron, 32, chimed in. “He is a coward.”

“I hope they get him,” Jeanette Cintron added. “I hope he never gets out of prison.”

Neighbors in Cintron’s building said they had long been wary of the suspect.

“I’ve seem him walking the streets since I been living here,” neighbor Untra Taylor, 58, said of the suspect. “Last time I saw him was, like, last month on Fourth Ave. and Bergen. I was going to the train station. He looked off, kind of crazy. ... He didn’t seem right.”

Vale has three past arrests on his record, police sources said — a September 2020 assault bust, a February 2016 arrest for forcible touching and a September 2015 arrest for public lewdness.

Cintron, who was one of four brothers, lived in New York City most of his life, working as a delivery worker for a nearby pharmacy until he was in his 70s. The job helped establish him as a well-loved mainstay in his neighborhood.

“I consider him like a grandfather to me,” said Victor Santiago, 53, the manager of Papa Firo Grocery, a deli a block away from Cintron’s building. “It’s just the respect he has, it reminds me of my own grandfather.”

Cintron was a regular who would buy a few scratchoff tickets while chatting with neighbors.

“He came every day. He came here for decades,” Santiago said. “Friday was the last time I seen him. He came in, got his scratchoffs and hung out outside.”

Cintron’s older brother, Reuben Cintron, lived with the victim until dying of natural causes in November 2017. Though Cintron is survived by an adult daughter, he lived most of his life as a single man, his family said.

“He would go out to all the clubs dressed all nice with his jet black hair. That was back in the ′50s. Those were the days,” Jeanette Cintron recounted. “He had a lot of girlfriends. He used to make us laugh telling stories about them.”

“He was a fighter, but a very fragile man,” she added. “He was very skinny and fragile.”

Cintron had an easygoing nature around his family.

“He always liked to joke,” Cintron Jr. said. “When we were kids he would imitate Popeye and Woody Woodpecker to make us laugh.”

“He was a wonderful human being,” Jeanette Cintron said. “He didn’t deserve this.”

Police are asking anyone with information about Vale’s whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.