FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling stabbed to death on duty in Queens
Union official says Lt. Russo-Elling was about six months away from retirement
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A suspect has been taken into custody after a 61-year-old on-duty FDNY Emergency Medical Services lieutenant was stabbed to death in Queens Thursday.
The incident happened near the intersection of 20th Avenue and Steinway Street in Astoria around 2:15 p.m.
Police say the victim, identified as EMS Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack while on duty and standing outside of FDNY EMS Station 49.
A longtime veteran with the New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services was fatally stabbed Thursday in an unprovoked attack during her lunch break, police said. A suspect has been taken into custody.
Two people who know the perpetrator witnessed the attack, and one of them chased him into his third floor residence, where he barricaded himself, Essig said. The suspect was talked out of the apartment by members of a hostage negotiating team and taken into custody. His name was not immediately released.
Steve Vago & Allie Griffin, The New York Post:
“She was about six or seven months away from retirement,” Vincent Variale, president of Local 3621, told reporters outside the hospital where Russo-Elling succumbed to her injuries. “She was talking about it.”
Variale said Russo-Elling, who worked out of Station 49 in Astoria and lived on Long Island, wanted to retire after she turned 62 in order to spend more time with her daughter and grandchildren.
