Twin teen sisters stabbed, one fatally, outside Brooklyn bodega after rejecting attacker's advances: Grandfather



Two twin teen sisters were stabbed in New York City early Sunday morning. One of the sisters died from her stabbing injuries. Witnesses say the teenagers were stabbed after the sisters rejected a man's advances.

Samyia Spain and her twin sister, Sanyia, were with a group of friends and relatives inside a Brooklyn bodega around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Alphonso Goodson, the twins' grandfather, told the New York Post that the stabbing suspect walked into the bodega and "started hitting on her."

A witness told News 12 The Bronx, "One of the guys had complimented the two girls who walked in with their friends. They said no, they weren't attracted."

Goodson explained, "She said, ‘I don’t want to be bothered with you. Leave me alone.’ Then the store owner put him out. He started kicking on the door, he started banging on the door."

As the twin sisters left the Slope Natural Plus store in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, they were both allegedly stabbed by the man who was rejected by the teenagers.

Goodson added, "He was waiting for them. He took it the wrong way. He came after them. That was wrong. That was dead wrong."

Sanyia was stabbed in the arm and Samyia was stabbed in the chest and neck.

A witness said, "Everybody started tending to her. One of her friends took off their shirts and started putting compression on her neck to try to slow down the bleeding. She was gushing blood just all over the street."

Samyia was later pronounced dead at New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Sanyia was listed in stable condition.

The attacker fled the crime scene.

No arrests have been made, and the police are investigating the fatal stabbing.

Goodson said, "I hope they catch this guy."

A memorial was set up outside Samyia's apartment building in Wyckoff Gardens.

Markita McMillan, the twins' aunt, told Gothamist, "They were so beautiful, fun-going. Samyia had a good head on her shoulders. She wanted to make something out of herself and so did Sanyia."

McMillian is concerned about the rampant and dangerous crime in the neighborhood.

"I'm scared to go down this building and walk downstairs because you don't know what you're facing,” McMillan said.

Slope Natural Plus worker Mohemmed Albeher is urging city officials to "make the law tougher" in response to violent crimes in the area.

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Friends of social justice activist stabbed in Brooklyn crowdfund​ over $70,000 so they can take time off work to 'properly mourn'



Friends of the social justice activist who was stabbed to death in Brooklyn have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money so that they can take time off work to "properly mourn."

Shortly before 4 a.m. on Monday, Ryan Carson and his girlfriend, Claudia Morales, were waiting at a bus stop in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The couple had just attended a wedding. They walked down the sidewalk and encountered a man wielding a knife, surveillance video shows.

The man screamed at Carson, "What the f*** are you looking at?"

The man threatened Carson, "I will kill you right now!"

Carson attempted to ease the tense situation by telling him, "Chill, chill, chill."

The knife-wielding man then violently stabbed Carson in the chest several times.

The assailant then spat at Morales as she stood over Carson, who was lying motionless on the ground. The attacker then fled the crime scene.

Police arrested Brian Dowling at around 10 a.m. on Thursday. The 18-year-old stabbing suspect was charged with second-degree murder. The judge denied bail.

CBS News reported, "Prosecutors claim two people identified Dowling from the surveillance video and that police recovered the assailant's apparent sweatshirt and knife. They also said the victim's girlfriend did not pick Dowling out of a photo array she was shown."

Carson was a social justice activist who was concerned with climate change and public health and advocated for safe injection sites.

Carson, 32, worked for the nonprofit New York Public Interest Research Group – a self-described organization that "examines important issues, produces studies, and engages New Yorkers in public education campaigns designed to produce policies that strengthen democracy, enhance the rights of consumers and voters, and protect the environment and public health."

During his 10-year tenure at the nonprofit, Carson worked as a project coordinator at a community outreach program and as a senior solid waste campaign manager.

The New York Public Interest Research Group said in a statement: "With shock and profound sadness NYPIRG shares that our long time campaign organizer Ryan Thoresen Carson died tragically after a random street encounter near his home."

The nonprofit said Carson was a "beloved staffer, colleague and friend, and a creative, talented, relentless and upbeat advocate for students and the environment."

"Close friends" of Carson launched a GoFundMe campaign so they can take time off work to "properly mourn" his death.

"We are a collective of Ryan's close friends, reeling from a brutal loss," the description for the crowdfunding campaign begins. "We are asking for your help on behalf of his partner in easing the burden and stress of this horrifying situation so that we can have space and time to grieve, and remember Ryan."

"Immediate needs are to offset the costs of working class people taking time off of work to properly mourn," the crowdfunding campaign reads.

The GoFundMe listing states, "We hope you may find his thoughts on mutual aid, his works of advocacy, and understand that his radical principles of community care, justice, and dismantling an individualized profit-centered way of life are worth carrying forward in our own communities."

The listing concludes by saying, "We thank you in advance for any material support you can provide."

At the time of publication, the crowdfunding campaign had raised more than $70,000 to help Carson's friends take time off of work to properly mourn.

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