A former employee has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of a 69-year-old Brooklyn IHOP worker, police said Monday.
Wilbert Salazar Rios, 44, followed his former co-worker Hector Reinoso Perez into a bathroom at the IHOP on Flatlands Ave. near Louisana Ave. in East New York, and stabbed him to death Friday night, authorities allege.
The suspect, who lives in Hempstead, L.I., is charged with murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
The night of the slaying, Salazar Rios showed up at the chain pancake joint where he used to work before being fired and started chatting with Reinoso Perez, another employee and a manager, Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg said in Brooklyn Criminal Court Monday.
“Although the conversation was not hostile at the outset, when (Reinoso Perez) went back to work cleaning a bathroom, defendant entered the bathroom with a knife and began arguing with (Reinoso Perez),” the prosecutor said at Salazar Rios’ arraignment.
A co-walker walked into the bathroom and saw Salazar Rios on top of the victim, holding him down on the floor, and tried to intervene, Rottenberg said. That worker tried to take the knife, grabbing the blade and cutting his hands in the process.
Salazar Rios then ran off, leaving the knife behind, Rottenberg said. He later told police he was trying to push the victim away as they fought and didn’t know where the knife came from but somehow it went into the victim, according to prosecutors.
Medics rushed Reinoso Perez to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died from being stabbed in the upper body.
Salazar Rios has no criminal history, according to cops. His lawyer, Christina Paliogiannis of Legal Aid, argued he should be released with electronic monitoring, pointing out his sister, brother-and-law and other family members present in the courtroom and saying he wasn’t a flight risk.
Judge Jacob Zelmanovitz disagreed and ordered him held without bail.
The suspect and victim had always been friendly, the victim’s family told the Daily News.
Salazar Rios, who cut his hand as he attacked Reinoso Perez, was taken into custody when officers got there, police said.
The victim, a hardworking immigrant grandfather, had what his granddaughter called “a good friendship” with the accused killer.
“They never had arguments,” said the granddaughter, who did not give her name. “They were good.”
“They were all talking casually,” Danelis Reinoso, 43, the victim’s daughter, told The News Saturday, speaking in Spanish as his granddaughter translated. “(Reinoso Perez) went to the bathroom. He got up to go to the bathroom and the guy, he chased after him and he stabbed him.”
The killer stabbed him only once but the long blade tore through his kidneys, liver and other organs, Reinoso said.
“The doctors couldn’t do anything,” she said. “He stabbed him so hard. He wanted him to die.”
The victim immigrated from the Dominican Republic about five years ago in search of a better life.
“He found a job here (at IHOP) and he actually really loved his job,” the granddaughter said. “He’s worked at that job ever since he came.”
Reinoso Perez worked in the front of the restaurant on Fridays and as a dishwasher other days.
“He was a very caring, sweet person and he never had any problems with anyone,” his daughter said. “He never got into any trouble.”
Originally Published: September 8, 2025 at 8:00 AM EDT
