Wounded Staten Island man describes saving stabbed dad from accused killer neighbor

When Skender Cobaj heard his elderly father screaming for help from the next room in their Staten Island home he never imagined what he would find when he ran to help.

Cobaj’s dad was fighting off an unprovoked knife attack from an unhinged neighbor who came knocking on their door after slaying another elderly neighbor up the block, Cobaj and cops say.

“He was stabbing my father,” Cobaj, 51, told the Daily News in an exclusive interview revealing the details of the shocking Sept. 22 bloodbath in peaceful Sunnyside.

Cobaj was slashed in the hands wrestling 57-year-old neighbor Ramazan Ramusevic into submission.

“I defused him and held him until the authorities came,” Cobaj said.

“We were friends,” Cobaj said of the accused attacker. “I spoke to him all the time. He was a neighborhood guy that we talked to, so it was a shock to all of us.”

While Cobaj held Ramusevic down, Cobaj’s teenage daughter called 911.

“She’s a guardian angel,” Cobaj said. “She saved our whole family.”

Ramusevic has a history of mental health issues and was hospitalized at Richmond University Medical Center in March for psychiatric reasons, court records show. He sued the hospital in June for medical records after he injured himself during an unsuccessful escape from the center, according to court documents.

Residents on the quiet block say the drama began when beloved 81-year-old neighbor Frank Pompilii visited the suspect’s home on Sunnyside Terrace near Grand Ave. after being summoned there to do some sort of favor for him.

“He was a caring man who would give you the shirt off his back,” Pompilii’s family wrote in an obituary after his shock slaying. “Frank simply embraced life and lived life to the fullest.”

Ramusevic allegedly stabbed Pompilii in the neck and body, leaving him to die before storming down the block to Cobaj’s home to knock on their door.

“He basically killed Frank on his own property, and then he came over and he came to kill my father,” Corbaj said. “I’m just trying to figure it out. Why it happened.”

Cobaj lives in the upstairs unit of their home and keeps a home office on the ground level where his father, Redzep (Richie) Cobaj, 78, lives. Skender luckily was working in his office and so heard his dad screaming for help.

“I went across my home office, and that’s when he attacked me,” Skender said of the accused killer.

Skender Cobaj suffered cuts to his hands struggling in his father’s living room with the stabber until cops arrived.

“It felt like an eternity,” Skender said. “He was aggressive the whole time.”

When neighbor Kelly Doyle came home from work she saw Skender sitting on the ground in the aftermath of the attack.

“He was covered in blood,” Doyle said. “His hand was bleeding. He had blood on his arms, his legs, his pants.”

The woman comforted Skender’s brave daughter as the teen’s grandfather was wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher.

“I held her head, and I wouldn’t let her look until the doors were closed on the ambulance,” Doyle said.

Cops took Ramusevic into custody and charged him with murder, assault and weapon possession.

“His face was contorted and twisted,” Doyle said after witnessing Ramusevic’s arrest. “He looked deranged.”

As he was led to a nearby police car, Pompilii’s wife of 56 years screamed, “I hope you die!” according to neighbor Maryann Nelson, 72.

Skender’s father suffered multiple stab wounds to his body and was rushed to Richmond University Hospital in critical condition. Skender was treated and released from the same hospital.

Redzep remains hospitalized but has stabilized and is out of intensive care, His son is hopeful Redzep will make a full recovery.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Skender said. “I can’t tell you for certain because the doctors won’t give me that certainty.”

Skender was shocked to later learn of Pompilii’s slaying. The victim was close friends with Skender’s dad.

Police investigate after three people were stabbed on Sunnyside Terrace in Staten Island on Sept. 22. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)Skender described Pompilii as a “wonderful human being.”

“There’s no other way to say it,” he added. “He is godsend on this block, and he didn’t deserve this. And his family didn’t deserve this. They’re a wonderful, beautiful family.”

In his obituary, Pompili’s family wrote of his devotion to them.

“He spent every moment with his family doing things that made him happy,” the obituary reads.

“He loved being with people and working in his garden, he could grow just about anything, he enjoyed his daily walks in the park, taking trips to Atlantic City, and most importantly, vacationing every year with family. … His children and grandchildren were his world and he lived for them. He was the perfect role model, and he will forever be missed.”

Ramusevic remains held without bail on murder, assault and weapon possession charges. His lawyer did not return a call seeking comment.

Neighbors told The News that ambulances have been called to Ramusevic’s home several times this year for what they believed were mental health episodes.

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