A girl was stabbed to demise inside her Chinatown condo early Sunday after her alleged killer adopted her house — and her closing moments have been caught on chilling surveillance footage.
Video obtained by The Put up reveals the suspect tailing the 35-year-old sufferer, Christina Yuna Lee, on the road as she enters her Chrystie Avenue condo constructing, following shut behind as she opens the entrance door and strolls into the hallway.
Minutes later, a neighbor throughout the hallway from the sufferer’s sixth-floor condo at 111 Chrystie St. known as 911 round 4:30 a.m. after listening to her screams throughout the brutal stabbing, legislation enforcement sources mentioned.
“We’ve acquired cameras on each flooring and within the entrance right here,” the proprietor of the constructing mentioned. “She acquired out of a cab proper right here and he adopted her. He grabbed the entrance door simply earlier than it closed. He adopted her all the way in which up, hanging again, staying one flooring behind her all the way in which as much as the sixth flooring.
“Then, he waited till her door was nearly closed and he went in.”
Yuna Lee was present in her bathtub “bleeding from a number of wounds to the physique” — whereas her alleged killer was found hiding below a mattress, in line with a supply and an NYPD spokesman.
“A lot blood,” the constructing’s proprietor mentioned. “My spouse mentioned I ought to name somebody to scrub all of the blood however I’m going to scrub it up myself. It’s the least I can do for that poor lady.”
One among Yuna Lee’s sixth-floor neighbors who known as 911 recalled the sufferer’s determined pleas for assist.
“She was calling for assist, screaming for assist. I woke as much as it. It was terrible,” the 21-year-old neighbor mentioned. “‘Assist me! Name 911!’ — that’s precisely what she mentioned over and again and again.”
Responding cops discovered the suspect, recognized by sources as Assamad Nash, 25, contained in the condo and coated in blood. Nash allegedly tried to flee the grisly scene by way of the fireplace escape earlier than barricading himself inside — prompting the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit to bust down the door, in line with sources.
“There was a male inside refusing to exit the condo,” a police spokesman mentioned Sunday.
FDNY medics pronounced the sufferer useless at 5:55 a.m.
Cops discovered a bloody knife within the condo and consider it got here from Yuna Lee’s personal kitchen, sources mentioned, including that each Nash and the sufferer have been stabbed.
Officers, who have been close by when the decision got here in, rushed to the scene and tried to interrupt down the sufferer’s door — as she screamed for somebody to name 911 inside, sources mentioned. They even tried utilizing a sledgehammer at one level however have been initially unable to get inside till ESU confirmed up.
One cop who was on the roof on the time noticed Nash on the fireplace escape making an attempt to flee, the sources mentioned. He spooked him into going again contained in the condo — the place he was discovered hiding below a mattress, in line with the sources.
Sources mentioned Nash, 25, is a homeless profession legal with three open circumstances and a document of a number of escapes from police custody.
The sufferer, who was Asian, was a digital producer and beforehand lived in New Jersey, sources and neighbors mentioned.
“She’s from New Jersey, been right here lower than a 12 months,” the constructing’s proprietor mentioned Sunday. “Such a candy lady.”
One neighbor who heard the sufferer’s screams known as them “horrifying.”
“It appeared like one thing you'll hear out of a film or of a home violence,” mentioned Andrew Oakes. “I didn’t assume something of it. I assumed, ‘Oh, that’s unusual,’ till the police got here.
“It wasn’t till I heard banging on the door and plenty of folks operating up the steps.”
Police are investigating whether or not the slaying was a hate crime.
“It’s all below investigation,” an NYPD spokeswoman mentioned.
A police spokesman mentioned the 911 name was prompted by “a disturbance within the condo.”
Mayor Eric Adams denounced the assault in a press release Sunday.
“I and New Yorkers throughout town mourn for the harmless lady murdered in her house final evening in Chinatown, and stand with our Asian brothers and sisters as we speak,” the mayor mentioned.
“Whereas the suspect who dedicated this heinous act is now in custody, the circumstances that created him stay,” Adams added. “The mission of this administration is evident: We gained’t let this violence go unchecked.”
Nash has three open circumstances in Manhattan courting to final 12 months, together with 27 counts of legal mischief from an arrest final month, and two busts from final 12 months for possession of stolen property and assault.
Within the assault case, Nash is accused of slugging a straphanger in the appropriate eye on the Grand Avenue station on Sept. 28 whereas the sufferer was swiping a MetroCard for a girl, sources mentioned.
The suspect was busted in Midtown on Jan. 6 for allegedly damaging dozens of Metrocard machines at three totally different subway stations courting again to Dec. 8, in line with a legal grievance.
Nash allegedly used an object to jam the slots on the machines that settle for payments.
He was launched with out bail within the assault case however skipped out and was arrested two months afterward a warrant. He was once more launched.
Sources mentioned Nash was additionally charged with assaulting a lady in Might 2021, however that case was later sealed.
In January 2021, he was charged with 27 counts of legal mischief for damaging MetroCard machines, and in addition hit with fees of escape and resisting arrest, the sources mentioned.
In all, Nash has greater than a half-dozen different arrests courting to 2015, sources mentioned.
At a press convention close to the scene Sunday, Asian American neighborhood leaders known as the assault “grotesque” and demanded motion from town.
“That is so grotesque and so horrible and so merciless,” state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who broke down in tears whereas talking, mentioned at Sara D. Roosevelt Park close to the scene.
“We have now to make it possible for our metropolis has to cease saying sorry, that our state stops saying sorry,” Niou mentioned. “Our communities deserve solutions and we haven’t been given any.”
The Huge Apple has seen a collection of violent acts towards Asian People in current months — with Sunday’s deadly assault simply the most recent.
“Why are violent mentally ailing people, these with a legal previous, attacking us?” mentioned Ben Wei of the advocacy group Asians Combating Injustice.
“This particular person has at the very least six priors and open counts towards him,” he mentioned. “What has failed on this system to permit this to occur?”
Extra reporting by Tina Moore and Sam Raskin
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