Man Wearing Ski Mask Fatally Stabs Couple In Suspected Robbery In Brooklyn

A husband and his wife were fatally stabbed Wednesday evening outside their house in Brooklyn, New York. No arrests have been made so far but witnesses said the suspect was seen wearing a ski mask at the scene.

Police arrived at the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood after they were informed about a robbery in the area. Officers found the couple unconscious and both had stab wounds. Detectives said 65-year-old Stephenson Bonaparte and 59-year-old Hazel Brown were about to enter their home when they were attacked with a knife.

Brown was pronounced dead at the scene and Bonaparte was declared dead after he was taken to Kings County Hospital Center.

A neighbor who was on a walk at the time saw Bonaparte unconscious on the front yard, local media reported. The couple’s daughter, who lives in the house with her family, heard the struggle outside and found her parents bleeding, another neighbor told the New York Times. The couple's daughter was with her 2-year-old daughter inside the house at the time of the attack.

“She ran . . . straight to my house. She was shaking. She said she heard her mom screaming and saw her father outside,” the neighbor said. “They put the father in the ambulance but the mom was still in the house when I came out. You can tell it wasn’t good.”

Tony, a neighbor identified by his first name, described the crime scene and Bonaparte's condition after the attack: “Bloody, like movie bloody... He couldn’t talk. I think blood was in his lungs.”

The couple’s daughter told Tony that she believed her mother had fought the attacker. He described the couple as "good people, hardworking people, well-respected people.”

Bonaparte owned a religious gift store, King Soloman Religious, on Rutland Road, about two miles from the couple’s home. The couple originally hailed from Trinidad.

Even though the incident is suspected to be a robbery, police are working to determine the motive of the attack.

“I can’t believe someone would just do that. It doesn’t make sense,” said a nearby store owner. “I’m in shock and sad that her daughter and granddaughter had to see everything. She was crying uncontrollably.”