Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Peter Zisopoulos, 34, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on murder and other charges for the killing of Alison Russo-Elling, a 25-year veteran of the FDNY Emergency Medical Services, who was posthumously promoted to rank of Captain. The defendant allegedly approached the victim near EMS Station 49 in Astoria on September 29, 2022, knocked her to the ground, and stabbed her repeatedly before fleeing the scene.

District Attorney Katz said, “This is a tragic case and a devastating loss for the family as well as our City. FDNY EMS Captain Alison Russo-Elling spent her 25-year career helping others in their time of need. Now, her family mourns her passing because, as alleged, the defendant brutally stabbed Ms. Russo-Elling to death near her workstation in Astoria. Our condolences go out to the family, friends, and colleagues that she leaves behind. The defendant has been indicted on murder charges and faces justice in our courts.”

Zisopoulos, of 20th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, was arraigned today via video from Bellevue Hospital before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on a two-count indictment charging him with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Judge Pandit-Durant set the next court date for November 29, 2022. Zisopoulos faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison, if convicted.

According to the charges, on September 29, 2022, at approximately 2:10 p.m., the victim was in uniform and on-duty, walking down 20th Avenue, between 41st and Steinway Streets, when the defendant took a knife out of his pocket, approached the victim, and attacked her without provocation. When the victim fell to the ground, the defendant allegedly stabbed her over a dozen times before fleeing the scene. The incident was captured on video surveillance and there is no indication that the two were known to each other prior to the attack.

Subsequently, District Attorney Katz said defendant Zisopoulos ran to a nearby residential building where he barricaded himself inside his third-floor apartment. A short time later, members of the NYPD’s hostage negotiating team and emergency service unit were able to talk to the suspect and had him surrender without further altercation.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead as a result of the injuries sustained from the attack.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Castellano, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Major Crimes Division Daniel A. Saunders.