Homeless – & now dead
Fatal stab in B’klyn street fight
A homeless man who survived a stabbing years ago was fatally knifed during an argument outside a Brooklyn laundromat, police said Tuesday.
Julio Gonzalez, 29, quarreled with his killer on E. 18th St. near Church Ave. in Prospect Park South about 2:30 p.m. on Monday, cops said. As the fight escalated, the victim’s adversary plunged a knife into his upper body and ran off, police said.
Medics rushed Gonzalez to Kings County Hospital, but he could not be saved.
Gonzalez was a regular in the neighborhood, often hanging out with a group of people on the block.
“They eat together, they go to the park together, they were a family,” said one woman who lives nearby. “He never bothered anyone. Sometimes if I had a lot of groceries he would help me carry them to my house.”
Gonzalez was born in Guatemala, and was stabbed at some point in his youth before coming to the U.S., said his longtime friend Ramon Quinn Ramirez.
“He is just a beautiful human being and I have no words for what happened to him,” he said.
Ramirez said he worked in a food pantry, where he met Gonzalez about a decade ago. They bonded over soccer, and Ramirez was the only one of their friends who had a television, so they would often gather at Ramirez’s home. Gonzalez wound up staying at Ramirez’s home most nights, and kept most of his belongings there, his friend said.
“He was like a child to me,” Ramirez said. “I’m burying a son now.”
Ramirez said he also took care of Gonzalez during a recent bout of pneumonia, and gave him work through his event planning business and flower shop, he said.
“His talent was immense,” Ramirez said. Gonzalez would build false walls, paint, or do any other task Ramirez needed, he said.
“He was supposed to come to work yesterday but he said he wanted some time off because he was we working so much,” Ramirez said. “He was always so grateful for everything he received.”
The attacker sought. is still being