GREAT- GRAND‘ KILLER’
Man, 81, wanted in stab of kin’s ex
An 81yearold man is suspected of fatally stabbing his greatgranddaughter’s exboyfriend in Brooklyn on Sunday— then fleeing with the bloody knife, cops and kin said.
“My greatgrandfather tried to break up the fight; that’s how it happened,” said a distraught woman who refused to give her name, but was identified by neighbors as Amber, the victim’s ex.
The bloodshed broke out at around 2: 15 a. m. after Amber and exbeau Kevin Rivera, 21, began fighting at their daughter, Aera-lya’s, first birthday party in a Bushwick apartment, police and relatives said.
Amber’s greatgrandfather, Nicholas Diaz, picked up a knife and attacked the out-of-work musician during the brawl, cops said.
In a fit of rage, the old man allegedly plunged the blade into the young father’s chest and slashed his arms in front of stunned relatives before fleeing from the bloodspattered apartment with the murder weapon in hand.
“Kevin is my exboyfriend and he was trying to get back with me,” Amber said. “He wouldn’t leave, and he was yelling and pushing.”
Rivera was rushed to Woodhull Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
Investigators were still searching for Diaz on Sunday night.
Rivera’s family and friends insisted that Diaz isn’t the only one responsible for his death and that the old man’s relatives tainted the crime scene.
“Amber’s mother had Kevin’s blood all over her clothes, trying to cover it up with a big coat she was wearing this morning,” said Rivera pal Joanna Perez, 31. “The grandmother wouldn’t let the police in [ the house] and told them to go get a warrant.”
Rivera’s distraught father said that based on his son’s injuries, he doesn’t believe Kevin was attacked solely by Diaz, who neighbors said isn’t in the best of health.
“They beat him, and then they killed him,” said José Rivera, 65. “I believe more than one person in that house killed my son.
“How long did they have him in that house before they called the ambulance?” he asked before breaking into tears. “How can an 81yearold stab someone like my son? My son takes karate and does 100 push ups a day.’’
Rivera’s friends said he had been trying to get back together with his ex in recent months, but that the two had a toxic relationship
“Yesterday, just before the party, he was walking around over by his dad’s house, showing everybody his baby girl,” said pal Daniel Ramos, 27. “He was smiling and saying that he was so glad, so happy to be in his daughter’s life, and then he said he had to go back to the party, and that was the last time I saw him.”
Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast