Police are on the lookout for a man who allegedly stabbed twin sisters inside a New York deli after they reportedly rejected his advances early Sunday, March 17.
According to the New York Daily News, the incident happened a little after 2 a.m. Twin sisters, Sanyia and Samyia Spain, 19, took a break from a family game night and left to grab snacks from the Natural Plus Deli at 77 4th Ave, near their home. Witnesses claimed a man approached the twins and made advances, but they rejected him. But the man didn’t accept their answer and became irate, and reportedly fatally stabbed Samyia in the chest and neck. Sanyia was stabbed in the arm. The twins were transported to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where doctors pronounced Samyia dead.
Sanyia told the New York Daily News that she became protective when she saw her twin sister talking with him. Samyia reportedly refused to give her phone number but offered her Instagram handle. He became angry when she refused to follow him back.
“She said she wasn’t going to follow him back,” Sanyia said. “That’s it. She said no.”
A witness said the incident started when the twins and a man got into an argument after he complimented them on their attractiveness.
“So, he called them names,” a witness said. “They called him names back. He walked out. He walked down the block angry. And then a couple,e of, like, two, three minutes later, he comes up and starts banging and kicking on the glass door, trying to get in.”
The fugitive’s friend allegedly tried to convince him to leave because he had reportedly been inebriated, but the perpetrator wouldn’t listen.
A witness claimed the deli worker, Mohammed Alba, kicked the guy out and locked the door, leading him to kick and bang on the door to bust in. Later on, Alba opened the door to let everyone out of the deli, but the fugitive allegedly ran in as soon as the door opened, stabbing the women.
The victims’ mother, Lashawn Goodson, told Pix11 that Sanyia began arguing with the man to defend her sister, and he stabbed her, and she fell to the floor. Samyia then moved to attack him, but he reportedly stabbed her twice.
Sanyia is back home recovering, but there’s a massive hole in the family’s heart over the loss of Samyia.
“She didn’t want to be bothered. Why did she have to die because you’re not who she wanted to be accompanied by?” Goodson said. “Walk away, don’t hit on no girl, don’t fight no female, no matter what. Go on about your business.”
She wants the man to suffer daily in a jail cell. No arrests have been made, but family member Danasha Goodson posted photos and videos from the altercation, claiming the man’s name is Veo Kelly.
The family has a GoFundMe to cover all memorial costs for Samyia, whose funeral is set for March 30 at the Frank R. Bell Funeral Home in Brooklyn, NY. All are welcome.
Here are some of the condolences expressed to the Spain family.
Those with any information to give can help investigators by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. For Spanish-speaking callers, dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
