Unhinged man charged with murder of 81-year-old Staten Island grandpa stabbed with 2 other neighbors: cops
The unhinged man who allegedly stabbed an 81-year-old grandfather to death and wounded two other neighbors on Staten Island last week has been charged with murder, authorities said Tuesday.
Ramazan Ramusevic, 57, was picked up soon after the Friday afternoon assault on quiet, tree-lined Sunnyside Terrace — which left his octogenarian neighbor Francesco Pompilii mortally injured — and he was formally charged late Monday, police said.
The NYPD has not officially revealed the motive in the deadly attack, but neighbors have said that Ramusevic, who was “having problems,” seemed to have lashed out in an unprovoked fit of rage.
“His face was like a madman,” neighbor Kelly Doyle, 41, said of the suspect on Friday.
“He looked deranged when he came out.”
Pompilii — who was knifed in the neck and body — was covered in blood as first responders rushed him into an ambulance and off to Richmond University Medical Center, where he couldn’t be saved.
Pompilii’s pal, Redzep Cobaj, 78, was initially listed in critical condition after the attack, but later stabilized, authorities have said. His son, Skender Cobaj, 51, was cut on the hands and later released from the hospital.
MaryAnn Nelson, 72, said the deceased victim was “a great neighbor” who would “give you the shirt off his back.”
She said she saw Pompilii’s wife screaming at her husband’s alleged killer as police whisked him away.
“‘I hope you die! I hope you die!’” the devastated wife yelled, according to Nelson.
Nelson’s husband, Bill, called the stabbing spree “totally senseless” and said it was perpetrated for seemingly “no reason.”
One resident who knew both Pompilii and Ramusevic said the elderly victim “never harmed a fly.”
“He was always smiling, saying hello. Who would harm a man like that?”
Pompilii, Cobaj and Ramusevic frequently chatted, the resident said.
“They were always hanging out and talking. I don’t know what they were talking about, but they knew each other very well,” the neighbor noted. “They always have some conversation, the two old guys and the younger guy.”
The resident said he would say “Hi” to the accused killer, who once owned a nearby pizzeria, but “he never answered back.”
He added that he didn’t think the assailant “was friendly with anyone else” besides the man he allegedly killed.
Pompilii, meanwhile, “was friendly to everyone,” the neighbor said.
“He was the nicest man you could ever meet — very kind, very generous, always a smile on his face.”
Pompilii was a father of two and grandfather of six who had been married to his wife, Doreen, for more than 50 years, according to the Staten Island Advance.
A native of Abruzze, Italy, Pompilii arrived in America at age 17 and worked for decades making and cutting uniforms for companies on Staten Island and in the Bronx.
Another neighbor, Terence Bennett, 59, said he’d known Pompilii since he was a teen.
The older man and his wife “took us places, movies and stuff like that. … I’m upset,” Bennett said.
“Frank was a nice guy,” he added. “He was always helping people out. He took me to pick up my car last summer. I used to walk my dog and stopped and chit-chat with him.”
