Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Mamdani calls for investigation on how a man charged for jogger's murder was hired by DOE
By
Carol Chen
and
Catalina Gonella
Published Nov 9, 2026 at 5:26 p.m. ET
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
KHemaz/GVN via Getty Images
By
Carol Chen
and
Catalina Gonella
Published Nov 9, 2026 at 5:26 p.m. ET
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered a probe into how the man charged with killing Brooklyn jogger Katie Suarez got a job in the city's public school system despite a documented history of psychiatric issues.
"I have directed my team to conduct a full review into this matter," Mamdani said at a press conference on Monday. The city’s department of education has suspended Sayed Mohassib, 27, the mayor said, and the city is offering counseling to students and families at P.S. 200 in Bath Beach, where Mohassib worked as a paraprofessional.
Mohassib was arrested on Saturday and charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.
Suarez, a 28-year-old TD Bank employee, was stabbed in the neck on Oct. 30 while running on the Shore Parkway Greenway. She died several days later. According to news reports, Mohassib returned to work in the days after the alleged murder.
The case has drawn attention from elected officials and community members, who voiced concerns about how the city screens public school employees.
“I think to myself, ‘Just imagine what could have happened there with the children,’” said Cristina Romero, 47, who has two children at the school. “Why was that person there? Why wasn’t that person evaluated? Why were our children put in danger?”
City payroll records show Mohassib was employed by the DOE starting in April 2019. The department paid him as an hourly support staff through the 2023 fiscal year, then listed him as a paraprofessional in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The DOE has not confirmed the specific responsibilities of his job at P.S. 200.
But during that same period, questions were raised about Mohassib’s mental fitness, according to a statement from the local elected officials and an NYPD spokesman.
In the fall of 2022, Mohassib was placed on military leave after a brief assignment with the NYPD, the police spokesman said. But, according to elected officials, Mohassib was discharged from the Marines for psychiatric reasons soon after. The Marines did not respond to Gothamist’s request for comment.
On Jan. 11, 2023, Mohassib asked to be reinstated to the NYPD. But several supervisors noted that he “appeared disheveled” and was behaving in a concerning way, the police spokesman said. The NYPD denied his request and he was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
“If the NYPD deemed him unfit, why would he then be deemed fit to serve in a classroom of children?” said City Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso, whose district includes the school where Mohassib worked, adding that the DOE needs to “take a hard look at how he was able to pass through DOE screening.”
DOE applicants are subject to criminal records searches, but there is no assessment of their psychiatric history and issues that come up during their employment might be missed, said Jennifer Weber, an education policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
"Once you're kind of in the system, they're not necessarily reevaluating your role in the system or reevaluating your records in the system," she said.
Jay Brown, president of Community Education Council 21, which borders the district that includes P.S. 200, said the case represented a systemic failure.
"We don't demonize people who are navigating mental illness," Brown said. "But in this case, there were warning signs."
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, one of the elected officials who issued the joint statement, said that he wants Mamdani's review to determine how the DOE can work with other city agencies that have “orange flags or red flags about applicants."
Nicole Brownstein, a spokesperson for the DOE, said student safety is “our very top priority.”
“We are supporting the NYPD in their investigation however is needed,” Brownstein said.
The mayor's office has not said who will lead the review or when it will finish.
Tagged
education
new york city
public safety
Carol Chen
Read more
Catalina Gonella
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NY students will still have to take Regents exams, even as graduation rules change
State education officials say students must take four exams to meet federal testing requirements, but they won’t have to pass them to graduate.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Nov 9, 2026 at 4:52 p.m. ET
NYC fire deaths nearly double in 2026 as deadly Brooklyn blaze’s victims are identified
The FDNY says 87 people have died in fires this year, compared with 45 during the same period last year.
By
Charles Lane
News
NYC fire deaths nearly double in 2026 as deadly Brooklyn blaze’s victims are identified
The FDNY says 87 people have died in fires this year, compared with 45 during the same period last year.
By
Charles Lane
T-Mobile slowed Internet to a crawl for NY low-income users, AG says
By
Catalina Gonella
NYPD curbs spitting and idling tickets amid complaints about quality-of-life crackdown
By
Ben Feuerherd
NY civil liberties groups push for 48-hour limit on police retaining Flock camera data
By
Jon Campbell
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .