A man accused of going on a 28-hour stabbing rampage through New York City was arraigned Sunday. His final victim was a man from Philadelphia.
Maksim Gelman was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on charges that he hacked three people to death, then stalked the city for more than a day, attacking innocent strangers, hijacking vehicles and killing a pedestrian with a car. He was silent, shackled at the ankles and arms, and was dressed in a white jumpsuit issued to him after his bloody clothing was seized as evidence. He was surrounded by a half-dozen guards.
Public defender Michael Baum, who represented Gelman at the arraignment, said he could not shed any light on Gelman's mental state during the time police say he was committing the crimes, but he described his client Sunday evening as “calm” and “rational.”
Gelman was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, robbery, and assault in the Brooklyn attacks. He was being held without bail. He likely will face charges in Manhattan for an attack on a subway train passenger before he was arrested Saturday morning.
That victim was Joseph Lozito, of Philadelphia.
Police said Gelman's vicious spree ended after he was captured in dramatic fashion on the subway train beneath Times Square. After dodging officers by dashing across the tracks, Gelman pounded on the door of the compartment of a moving train and demanded that the driver let him in, authorities said.
Then, he turned and attacked a passenger, stabbing him in the head before two police officers who had been riding with the driver sprang to his aid, they said. When the fracas ended, Gelman was in handcuffs and the officers were in possession of his bloody 8-inch
kitchen knife, police said.
Lozito, the final stabbing victim, recounted the attack from his hospital bed Sunday for newspaper reporters.
“He's 2 or 3 feet away from me, and he pulls this knife out, looks me in the eye and says, ‘You're gonna die’,” Lozito told the New York Post.
Lozito, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs more than 260 pounds, said he wasn’t going to back down easily. He told the Daily News he tackled Gelman and tried to grab his wrist as he sliced at his arm and face.
''You better hope that I die because I'm going to come kill you,'' Lozito said he told the slasher.
Police officers, who were in the driver’s compartment of the train looking for Gelman, saw the suspect. One of the officers threw open the door and wrestled Gelman to the ground, knocking the knife from his hand, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
Lozito told the paper he’s a “big believer in karma,” and “hope[s Gelman] hangs himself in prison.”
Police said the capture ended a violent spree that began just after 5 a.m. Friday, when police say Gelman snapped. He fatally stabbed his stepfather, a female acquaintance, and her mother, injured two other men with knife wounds, and later ran over a pedestrian after a violent carjacking, police claim.
The Philadelphia native, a father, knows how fortunate he is. "I'm lucky. Four people are dead. I am not," he told the Daily News.
