A “madman” on Staten Island allegedly stabbed two elderly neighbors — killing one — and a third victim in what appears to be an unprovoked fit of rage on Friday, according to locals and police sources.
The unthinkable violence that left an 81-year-old man dead and his 78-year-old friend critically injured unfolded on Sunnyside Terrace – a quiet, tree-lined block – around 4:40 p.m., according to cops and neighbors.
A 51-year-old man also suffered minor injuries in the triple stabbing, the NYPD said.
The alleged attacker was arrested at the scene.
“His face was like a madman,” Neighbor Kelly Doyle, 41, said of the 57-year-old suspect when cops collared him.
“He looked deranged when he came out,” she added.
Police confirmed the triple stabbing, but didn’t immediately reveal what they believe could have sparked the bloodshed.
Neighbors told The Post that it appears to have been a random attack.
At least two of the 78-year-old man’s relatives – his son and granddaughter – were home when he was stabbed, said Doyle.
The granddaughter, 16, was screaming, ‘I’m going to kill him!” at the suspect as her bleeding grandfather was carried off on a stretcher, Doyle said.
The man’s son, she said, tried to go after the suspect but was held back by several officers.
Doyle said the 81-year-old man was covered in blood as first responders rushed him into an ambulance while administering CPR – but he couldn’t be saved.
MaryAnn Nelson, 72, said the deceased victim was “a great neighbor” who would “give you the shirt off his back.”
She said she saw the man’s devastated wife screaming at her husband’s alleged killer as police whisked him away.
“‘I hope you die! I hope you die!’” the devastated wife yelled, according to Nelson.
Nelson’s husband, Bill, called the stabbing spree “totally senseless” and said it was perpetrated for seemingly “no reason.”