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NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man on Monday was sentenced to serve
25 years to life in prison for the fatal stabbing of a veteran
emergency worker while she was on a break, according to
prosecutors
Peter Zisopoulos, 37, was convicted in May of second-degree
murder for killing Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, then 61, as she
walked from her fire department station to a nearby store for
food in 2022. She was remembered by mourners as a dedicated
public servant who responded to the World Trade Center on Sept.
11, 2001.
There’s no indication that Zisopoulos knew Russo-Elling. His
public defender lawyer has said that Zisopoulos “has a past
psychiatric history going back to 2018.” The lawyer did not
immediately respond to a message left with his office on Monday.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called the killing “brutal
and senseless.”
Russo-Elling was months away from retirement when she died. She
was promoted posthumously from EMS lieutenant to the rank of
captain.
“Today, we are appreciative that her killer has been sentenced
to the maximum punishment: 25 years to life. This sentencing
speaks to the brutality of the crime, and though it won’t bring
her back, I pray it will finally give her family the closure
they deserve,” said Fire Commissioner Robert S. Tucker.
Monday's sentencing came after the unrelated fatal shooting of
two on-duty firefighters in Idaho over the weekend.
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