Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 12
ABC7 News: The man accused of killing three innocent people in a violent stabbing spree across Manhattan on Monday has been arraigned and remanded.
Ramon Rivera, 51, appeared in court Tuesday on three counts of first degree murder in connection with the stabbings across Midtown.
He is accused in what the district attorney’s office called a serial killing that lasted approximately 2.5 hours and left two men and a woman dead: 36-year-old construction worker Angel Lata Landi, a 67-year-old man fishing, and 36-year-old Wilma Augustin.
Rivera confessed to the killings during questioning, according to police sources.
Rivera was held in jail from February 19 to October 17. While in custody, on May 7, he assaulted a police officer and an emergency medical worker at the Bellevue hospital psych ward.
Upon release, he was charged with grand larceny for stealing a $1,495 acrylic bowl from the Jonathan Adler store at 382 West Broadway in Soho. Prosecutors asked for bail but the judge released him.
“Ramon Rivera is not just the suspect in this case, he’s a composite of what Mayor Adams described yesterday as two broken systems — the criminal justice system in NYC and the failing mental health system,” said CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller.
Mayor Eric Adams said he has been pushing for the power to involuntarily remove people with mental health challenges from the streets.
He said legislation strengthening the power to involuntarily remove troubled homeless from the streets will be a priority in Albany next session.
