A 76-year-old retired kindergarten teacher was killed after being shoved down the stairs of a Chelsea subway station in a random attack by a homeless man released earlier in the day after undergoing a hospital psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital, police said Friday.
The attacker fled the scene at 18th St. and Seventh Ave. but was tracked down and arrested Friday afternoon by police in the subway at Penn Station, officials said. Police identified him as Rhamell Burke, 32, and said he is homeless. He was charged with murder.
Sources said Burke admitted to the killing while in custody. He made no comment when shortly before 9 p.m. he was led out of the 13th Precinct, in handcuffs and with his legs shackled, to be taken to Central Booking.
Burke has been arrested four times in the city in the last three months alone, most recently for assaulting a woman on April 2 inside the W. Fourth St. subway station, sources said. He allegedly shoved the back of a 23-year-old woman’s head following an argument inside the West Village station, causing bruises.
He pleaded not guilty in that case and was granted supervised release.
Mayor Mamdani late Friday ordered an immediate investigation into how Bellevue let the suspect go just hours before the attack. He has also asked the state health department to conduct a review.
“I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it. I extend my condolences to his loved ones,” said Mamdani. “New Yorkers deserve answers. That is why I’ve directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols.”
Thursday’s violent assault happened around 9:33 p.m., as the victim, Ross Falzone, was walking north on Seventh Ave. on his way to the No. 1 train station at West 18th St. Police said surveillance video shows the attacker walking behind Falzone and, from about 30 yards away, picking up his pace, coming up behind him and and then “violently pushing” Falzone down the stairs.
Falzone landed on his head about halfway down the flight of stairs, suffering a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine and a fractured rib.
The suspect fled on foot. Medics rushed Falzone to Bellevue Hospital, but he died at 2:55 a.m. Friday, police said.
A retiree who lived on the Upper West Side, Falzone previously taught special education at elementary schools and kindergarten, and once worked as a physical therapist at The New York Foundling‘s hospital in Chelsea, according to a close friend.
“He was a wonderful person who loved the city,” his roommate, 72-year-old David Chase, told the News. “He used the city like nobody else. He went out every night.”
At some point after the incident, police connected the attacker to police body-worn camera footage from an incident that happened outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse on E. 51st St. six hours earlier, just before 3:30 p.m., police said.
In that incident, Burke approached an officer, pulled a stick from a garbage can and held it at his side for about three seconds before dropping it, police said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Burke said, but after a brief exchange with at least one cop, he was taken into custody and driven in a patrol car to Bellevue. Police arrived at the hospital with the man at 3:39 p.m. and he later underwent a psychiatric evaluation.
At 4:39 p.m., police said, the hospital released him. It wasn’t immediately clear what treatment Burke had received. Officials at Bellevue could not immediately be reached for comment.
On Feb. 2, Burke was arrested for assaulting a Port Authority cop who tried to cuff him for stealing chips at a Duane Reade inside the Westfield World Trade Center in the Financial District, according to sources.
Not long after that, he was charged with burglary on Feb. 14 for kicking in the door to a supply closet and stealing a shovel inside the 23rd St. subway station on the No. 1 Line in Chelsea, when he also hurled a garbage can onto the tracks, forcing a train to be taken out of service, sources said.
On Feb. 25, Burke was arrested for resisting arrest, along with drug and weapons charges, after police caught him lying on a bench and taking up multiple seats on a southbound C train at the Jay St.-MetroTech station in Downtown Brooklyn. After he ignored orders to vacate the train, police moved to cuff Burke, only for the suspect to kick one of the officers. He was later found to be in possession of a kitchen knife, crack pipe and syringe needle.
Speaking to the Daily News at their apartment Friday afternoon, Chase said Falzone had a passion for live music, which drew him nightly to the city’s most famous venues.
“He was at Carnegie Hall like nobody else. He even went to student recitals at Juilliard,” Chase said.
“He loved to talk to the performers afterward,” he added. “They were amazed and wondered who he was.”
The victim leaves behind a sister and two nephews.
“It’s a tragedy,” Chase said.
“He was my best friend,” he said.
