One of Brooklyn’s most affluent neighborhoods was the scene of a savage homicide early Sunday. Investigators say a group of men killed Alex Santiago, 22, on the back of the head with a tire iron and stabbed him in the chest just after midnight Saturday, near the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 12th Street in Park Slope. Then the same group of men pounced on Jonathan Burgos of 20-year-old. The group stabbed him in multiple times in the face, hand and back.
Local resident Joseph Rivera said he tried to end the slaughter before the group of thugs – estimated by witnesses at about 20 people – could finish off the second victim. “All these guys were just pounding on this kid. I was screaming, ‘Stop! Stop!’ ” Rivera, 43, told the Daily News. “Everyone was just standing around watching like there was nothing going on.”
Rivera said he was beaten back with punches and pelted with glass bottles as the mob viciously sought payback for what police sources described as an earlier fight with Santiago and Burgos. “I got on the phone to call the cops and one of the attackers threw a crowbar that smashed the window next to me,” Rivera said. “I’ve lived here a long time and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
By the time the group of men fled about 12:10 a.m., the mortally wounded Santiago – whose wife, Stephanie, is due to give birth next month – was lying near the corner of 12th St., across the avenue from where Burgos was attacked. Santiago, his head bludgeoned, was taken by ambulance to New York Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.
Police officials did not reveal a motive for the violence, saying only that it followed a previous dispute, which witnesses said was on Fifth Ave. near 10th St.
“There was a huge fistfight,” Kaia Ross-Duggan, 24, a restaurant worker, said, describing the earlier clash. She said she saw “one of the same guys who got hurt . . . walking down the street with blood on his face and a baseball bat.”
Witnesses said Santiago and Burgos were jumped by four men who pulled up in a car and were quickly joined by roughly a dozen others.
Members of Santiago’s family set up a vigil in the spot where he died. They say his fiancée is eight-months pregnant and the couple was planning a baby shower this weekend.
“He was a loving and caring young man, very family oriented,” said Robert Santiago, the victim’s uncle. “He cared very much about his sister and his fiancée, caring for her during her pregnancy. He was a very stand-up man who wanted to achieve some level of success.”
“If someone knows or saw something, please give us details or call the police,” said family friend Anita Acuria.
Police have not made any arrests in this case and urge anyone with information about the case is being asked to contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.
