The maniac accused of ruthlessly stabbed loved beloved FDNY EMS LT. Alison Russo was found guilty of her murder on Monday – after a shocking process in which her family members and colleagues were forced to relive the horrific act.
Jury members in the Supreme Court of Queens considered less than an hour before they interrogated the 37-year-old Peter Zisopoulos of second-degree murder and possession of weapons for the random attacks of Russo, 61, during her lunch break in September 2022.
Russo’s family members celebrated the rapid judgment, which came after an about a week’s process in which Zisopoulos took the position and Kouny showed virtually no emotion when officers of justice played horrible images of the dead.
“This brings closing for my family,” said Craig Fuoco, Russo’s brother, after the jury’s decision was delivered.
“Nothing can erase the pain. Alison missed every day,” said Fuoco, flanked by the FDNY colleagues of his deceased sister and her daughter, Danielle Russo.
“We are ready to start healing and keeping Alison’s memory alive,” he said. ‘[I’m] Glad I think justice has been done. Happy to move forward. But Alison will still be missed. It remains difficult to continue, but we will find a way. “
Zisopoulos, from Astoria, will be confronted in prison for 25 years during his conviction on 30 June.
Video that was played during the process showed the released attacker who hit the first response of 9/11 and hugged her 20 times only half a block from her station house.
Justice officers said that Zisopoulos had attacked Russo on September 29, 2022, while she had service in her uniform.
He walked out of his apartment building and rushed to Russo, pushed her to the sidewalk and went on top of her – before he repeatedly stuck her with a serrated kitchen knife in the chest and belly, including her lungs, liver and heart.
A bystander on a scooter tried to intervene, but was chased away by a still armed Zisopoulos, according to a test ticket.
The knife-waving attacker then circled back round running around Russo while bleeding on the sidewalks and returned to the apartment he shared with his mother, said prosecutors.
Another bystander saw Zisopoulos and ran to a nearby EMS station for help.
The police arrested Zisopoulos after a short impasse while he was locked up in his apartment.
The serrated knife was found by the police in the front suit of Zisopoulos and tested positively for both the DNA of his and Russo, said prosecutors.
During his stint on the witness bank on Friday, Zisopoulos repeatedly gave inconsistent reactions about the attack.
For example, he presented three different alibis for what he did when Russo was murdered, including telling the New York Post during a prison interview in 2023 that he was watching Star Wars at that time.
“Alison Russo was an old civil servant who carefully took care of the people in New York. Our city is still in mourning for a woman who has saved countless lives as a member of the FDNY EMS and as a volunteer at her local ambulance company on Long Island,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement.
“I hope that this conviction entails the family, friends and colleagues of Alison while we continue to mourn her loss.”
FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said that although the judgment Russo will not bring back: “I pray her family and those who loved her get a sense of closing here.”
“Russo was a hero and remains a source of inspiration and strength for her colleagues and this department,” Tucker said in a statement.
