Queens man accused of killing FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo arraigned on murder charges
The man who fatally stabbed an FDNY EMS lieutenant just steps from her Queens station was indicted and arraigned on murder charges Thursday as dozens of steely-eyed emergency medical technicians and paramedics watched in a courtroom gallery.
Peter Zisopoulos pleaded not guilty in a video feed from a bed at Bellevue Hospital after Queens prosecutors charged him with murder and criminal weapon possession for his unprovoked Sept. 29 attack on EMS Lt. Alison Russo.
Russo, 61, was on duty Thursday afternoon near her station in Astoria when Zisopoulos, 34, attacked her, knifing her more than 10 times. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died.
She was a 24-year veteran of the FDNY and expected to retire in a few months, friends said.
Zisopoulos is facing 25 years to life if convicted. During the brief arraignment, Zisopoulos’ lawyer Wilson Antonio Lafaurie explained his client has “a past psychiatric history.”
“We believe that he doesn’t understand the charges against him, and we are asking for an exam,” Lafaurie said during the hearing
Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant ordered that Zisopoulos remain at Bellevue to undergo another psychiatric exam to see if he’s mentally fit to participate in his defense.
“He may have had a history of some sort of mental illnesses. But if you watch that horrible video that’s been out there, clearly, you see he killed her,” Vincent Variale, president of the Uniformed EMS Officers Union Local 3621 said outside Queens Criminal Court. “He murdered her, knew what he did was wrong and ran away. You don’t run away because you’ve done something right.
“Obviously he’s playing this mental defect issue to prolong justice being provided, but that’s OK, because we’re going to play that game, too,” Variale continued. “And we’re going to be here every day to make sure he knows we’re watching him and we’re watching this whole process take place. And we’re going to see this to the end until justice is done.”
After the stabbing, Zisopoulos ran back to his nearby home and surrendered to authorities after a brief standoff with police. During questioning, he admitted to stabbing Russo, according to prosecutors. The confession was caught on a cop’s body-worn camera, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe said.
The murder suspect had no prior arrests, but had been hospitalized in 2018 when cops found him cursing at Asians in the street, authorities said. Relatives have told police that Zisopoulos is schizophrenic.
Over the weekend, he was sent to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, but deemed fit to face criminal charges.
“This is a tragic case and a devastating loss for the family as well as our city,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. “FDNY EMS Capt. Alison Russo spent her 25-year career helping others in their time of need. Now, her family mourns her passing because, as alleged, the defendant brutally stabbed [her] to death near her workstation in Astoria.”
Acting FDNY Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh posthumously promoted Russo to captain at her funeral in Long Island Wednesday. During solemn tributes to lifetime lifesaver, Russo’s family directed their pain and anger at Zisopoulos.
“He left her dying there on the street like a rag doll that was just discarded,” Russo’s father Frank Fuoco said to a hushed crowd at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville, L.I. “Alison was our hero. She was such a beautiful person. He killed her, and tore a hole in our hearts.
“That man murdered our daughter, and she would have been the first one to come to his aid if he ever needed help.”
Russo’s younger brother, Craig Fuoco said his sibling’s murder “feels unreal.”
“Alison didn’t deserve this. No one does,” he said. “My hope is that our family’s tragedy will bring attention to problems facing first responders. Changes to promote community safety need to be prioritized for both the people who need help as well as for the first responders who selflessly respond to those in need.”
Craig Fuoco was at the court hearing, but declined to speak after the arraignment.
“I think it’s important for everybody to be here because we’re all feeling the loss of our loved Alison Russo and the hero she was, and we’re here to support the family,” said Variale.
EMS members hope the Zisopoulos case isn’t a repeat of the prosecution of Jose Gonzalez, the man accused of killing EMT Yadira Arroyo in 2017. Questions about Gonzalez’s mental state dragged on for five years until he was deemed unfit to stand trial and put into a psychiatric hospital.
In September, after four months in the hospital, doctors said Gonzalez was well enough to stand trial.
“Mental health needs to stop being a reason to commit crimes,” Michael Greco, a good friend of Russo’s and vice president of Local 2507, the city’s Uniformed EMT, paramedics and fire inspector’s union. “That’s not an excuse to murder someone.
“My members would like to talk to a psychiatrist if they see a baby die, but they don’t go around killing people. They go on saving lives,” Greco said.
Russo, a mother and grandmother was a 9/11 World Trade Center responder and a member of the Huntington Community First Aid Squad volunteer since November 1992.
