The mother of the construction worker who was slaughtered in a random Manhattan attack by a knife-wielding madman broke down in tears as family and friends gathered for a candlelit vigil at the very spot he was murdered.
Angel Gustavo Lata-Landi, 36, was standing outside a Chelsea work site when homeless maniac Ramon Rivera, 51, allegedly stabbed him in the stomach during a shocking daylight spree that took the lives of two other innocent bystanders on Monday.
His heartbroken mother, Mercedes Landi, said she spoke to her son the night before he was killed — and is now tasked with taking his body back to the Ecuadoran city he left 20 years ago for his funeral.
“There are no words how I feel,” said an emotional Landi, through a translator, upon arriving at the West Side street where her son was stabbed to death.
Landi, who traveled from Ecuador to the Big Apple, gathered with the tearful crowd in the rain Friday night at 444 West 19th St.
Nearly a dozen loved ones created a small memorial with flowers, candles and photos — leaving behind Lata-Landi’s white hard hat — as they remembered his life.
“He acted like I’m his son,” his 9-year-old nephew, Alan Ochoa, told The Post.
“He lived in the Bronx but sometimes he’d come over and cook out. I just wish he was back alive.”
Lata-Landi was the first victim killed around 8:20 a.m. during the shocking stabbing spree allegedly carried out by Rivera, a homeless man with a lengthy criminal history and documented mental health issues — who had been sprung on supervised release just last month on a non-bail eligible offense just last month.
The deranged stabber trekked from the West Side to the East River waterline, where he fatally knifed Chang Wang, 67, who was fishing just before 10:30 a.m., cops said.
The third and final victim — Wilma Augustin, 36 — was stabbed to death near the United Nations building about 30 minutes later. She was a single mother of an 8-year-old boy.
Rivera, who told cops he targeted his victims because they were “alone” and “distracted,” was arrested shortly after the final stabbing and found with two knives, court papers stated.
The Landi family is considering taking legal action against the city after New York’s lax bail reform laws allowed the violent, mentally ill offender to roam the streets, according to Walter Sinche, the executive director of the International Ecuadorian Alliance who spoke on their behalf.
“At this point, all they want is justice,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the system failed. He was a dangerous person. Why did they let him out?”
