Hero mom is slashed
Attacked while protecting kids from knife-wielding stranger
A mother walking down a Brooklyn street was slashed while shielding her children from an unprovoked attack by a knife-wielding stranger, cops and the victim’s family said Tuesday.
The victim, Arely Ramirez, 41, was nearing the corner of 45th St. and Eighth Ave. in Sunset Park with her children in tow when the attacker lunged at her about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, police sources said.
He slashed her in the stomach before running off toward Seventh Ave.
“He just came out of nowhere, just some random person,” said Ramirez’s son Jimmy Sosa, 22. “He came after my little brother first.”
Ramirez was walking with Sosa, her 20-year-old daughter and her 11-year-old son when they passed their attacker, who was pacing back and forth on a front porch, talking to himself, Sosa recounted.
“He came to my brother yelling, saying ‘Did you call me a crackhead?’” said Sosa. “He went literally running and we were almost at the end of the corner. He came running towards us.”
The man pulled out what looked like a knife, so Sosa and Ramirez got in front of the 11-year-old, and told the youngster and his sister to run.
“I was telling my mom to run away first and that I would handle it, and my mom pushed me to save me,” he said. “She saw that he was ready to launch the knife towards me and that’s when she intervened.”
The attacker’s knife pierced Ramirez’s coat and clothing, resulting in a puncture wound and bruising, but no stitches.
“I saw the stabbing happen,” Sosa said. “I lifted her shirt to check because I know when you have adrenaline you don’t feel anything.”
Medics took her to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she was treated and released. Her children were not hurt.
Investigators tracked the suspect’s movements to a nearby subway station, where he was caught on video jumping a turnstile.
On Tuesday, police released surveillance images of the suspect from the station in the hope someone recognizes him.
Sosa said his little brother is terrified to go back outside after the attack.
The boy and his mom switched jackets just before the assault — so it was the 11-year-old’s coat that has the holes in it as a visceral reminder of what happened.
“He said, ‘Can I wear your jacket? It’s thicker.’ He’s really thinking about it,” said Sosa.
Anyone with information about the suspect was asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.