East Village stabber victims included woman and husband who died in attack
Two of the three victims stabbed during a bloody East Village street clash were a married couple, including the husband who died after being slashed in the throat, officials said Tuesday.
Suspect Alejandro Piedra, 30, was charged with murder and attempted murder, and faces up to 25 years to life, if convicted.
Cops said Piedra told them he was acting in self-defense.
“I don’t care if you are a woman or children,” Piedra said, according to cops. “If my life is at stake, they are fair game.”
At Piedra’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, prosecutors said Piedra had an altercation with the husband, his wife and the second man on E. 13th St. between First Ave. and Avenue A. Officials said all four of them knew each other from the neighborhood.
During the clash, the man accompanying the couple struck Piedra with a piece of wood, prompting Piedra to take out his knife and stab him in the head and back, authorities said.
Piedra admitted that he stabbed the three individuals. But he was adamant that he thought his own life was in danger, officials said.
“The decedent ran towards the defendant and the two got into a physical struggle,” said Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Daniel Makofsky. “As the defendant and the decedent squared up for a fistfight, an unidentified male ran up from behind the defendant and struck him in the back of the head with a glass lamp, knocking the defendant to the ground.”
Makofsky said it was not clear who struck Piedra with the lamp.
Piedra then ran after the husband and fought with him some more until they backed off each other. Makofsky said Piedra took out his knife while the husband grabbed the broken lamp on the sidewalk.
“Instead of advancing towards the decedent, the defendant walked towards his wife, who was standing off to the side of the street and he then stabbed her multiple times,” the prosecutor said.
He added that the woman posed no threat to Piedra when he attacked her. After seeing that Piedra had stabbed the woman, the husband struck him with the broken lamp.
Piedra then stabbed the husband several times, inflicting fatal wounds to his neck, prosecutors said. He then went up to the woman again and stabbed her several more times, they added.
In 2018, Piedra was charged with assaulting two women when he struck them with umbrellas. One of the victims was 69 years old. The case was sent to mental health court, which the defendant completed in 2021.
Piedra is due in court next on June 28.
