ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) — Police arrested a man and charged him in the stabbing of a mother of three at a Queens bus stop earlier this week.
Luis Emmanuel Valencia Ponce, 18, surrendered himself to the 115th police precinct Thursday morning after the release of very clear surveillance video Wednesday.
Valencia Ponce is now facing charges of attempted murder and two counts of assault.
The 30-year-old victim was waiting to cross the street along 23rd Avenue and 94th Street as she headed to a bus stop just before 6:20 a.m. on Tuesday.
Her attacker wore a ski mask and didn’t utter a single word as he stabbed the mother of three on a street corner before sunrise.
The woman and her husband say they do not know the suspect or recognize him.
“She is scared of everything that happened and, obviously, does not want to come back to this area ever again,” he said. “After what happened, she’s afraid she’ll be attacked again.”
Surveillance video shows the moment the suspect went up to the victim. A man in dark clothing walks by the surveillance camera. In the video, he briefly walks away before running back to attack her again.
“At the moment she was attacked, she never, never, felt anything at her back; she didn’t sense anyone coming up behind her, it happened suddenly, he just appeared and stabbed her,” the victim’s husband said.
The suspect is seen on surveillance video going after the mother for a second time and she is later seen doubled over asking for help.
“He deserves exactly what is coming to him, more than anything else, we want justice-we want them to catch him, to lock him up, and to make him pay for what he did,” the victim’s husband said. “Because what he did to her was completely unjust, especially considering she is a woman.”
The victim’s family says the young mother is recovering in the hospital, but is in a lot of pain. She said it is hard for her to move her arm and back, where she suffered stab wounds.
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