Funeral services set for FDNY EMS lieutenant stabbed to death
Local 3621 President Vincent Variale joined 'Fox & Friends Weekend' to discuss the tragic killing of Alison Russo-Elling and the crime surge in the Big Apple.
Funeral arrangements have been set for slain FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling.
A wake will be held on Monday and Tuesday in Commack, New York, on her native Long Island.
The funeral for the World Trade Center first responder and 25-year-veteran of FDNY EMS will take place at the Tilles Center for Performing Arts in Brookville, a village part of Oyster Bay in Nassau County.
Russo-Elling, 61, was brutally killed on Thursday afternoon while taking a walk to get food while working at FDNY EMS Station 49 in Queens.
FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo is remembered by colleagues as the "mother of the station." (FDNY )
At approximately 2:20 p.m., the EMS lieutenant was on duty in the vicinity of 20th Avenue and Steinway Street in Astoria near her station’s quarters when she was stabbed approximately 19 times.
She was transported in critical condition to Mt. Sinai Queens Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. She was reportedly six months from retirement.
The suspect Peter Zisopoulos, 34, has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
FDNY Acting Commissioner Laura Kavanagh called the attack "barbaric and completely unprovoked."
FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo's wake will be held Monday and Tuesday before a Wednesday funeral service on Long Island. (FDNY)
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell tweeted on Thursday, "The deadly, senseless attack on an on-duty EMT is a direct assault on our society."
Russo-Elling is the 1,158th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty.
She is the second EMS to be murdered on the streets of New York City in the past five years, Chief of EMS Lillian Bonsignore said in a statement, adding: "We need this city to stand up for Alison Russo; we need this city to stand up for EMS. We need this city to stand up for all of our first responders who serve you and your families so selflessly, unselfishly and so giving."
FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo was a World Trade Center first responder who dedicated more than two decades of service to the city. (FDNY)
"It is a tremendous loss that we will feel for a very long time to come. It is very sad that the department has to go through this over again. There are no words that can express the pain that we are all feeling. My heart goes out to her family and her parents, and everyone in the station that is feeling this horrendous loss. She was always looking out for everyone, always someone you could talk to," FDNY Lieutenant Nancy Leger said in a statement shared on the FDNY’s Instagram on Sunday.
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"Lieutenant Russo had a heart of gold; she was here for the whole station, she made sure that we were all ok. We are a close-knit station. She made sure everyone went home safe. I have known her for over 13 years, she was the mother of the station. She was full of life; she was such a great person. It is a tragedy that we have to go through this again," FDNY Paramedic Madelyn Higueros said.
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