Neighbor of NYC maniac who butchered sibling, 8, and stabbed parents speaks out: ‘He never smiled’
The sicko who viciously stabbed his 8-year-old sibling to death and slashed his parents in their Queens home Thursday was antisocial and standoffish, according to a shocked neighbor — who described the rest of the family as “so happy” and “so lovable.”
Pedro Felix, 20, was fatally shot by cops when they responded to the heartbreaking Independence Day bloodbath and found him holding his father in a headlock over the kitchen sink with a knife to his throat.
“He never smiled. Now that I think about it he never smiled. He always had a serious face,” said neighbor Vanessa Rivera, who lives next door to the family.
“He never interacted with nobody. When we would pass each other in the hallway, he wouldn’t say hi or anything to me,” she added, noting that the only time she ever saw Felix was when he came in and out of the apartment.
Rivera said Felix’s steely demeanor was the polar opposite to the rest of his family.
“Anytime you see them, they were smiling,” she said.
“I can honestly say I’ve never seen them upset at each other.”
Police said Felix butchered 8-year-old Jacob Lopez, who was either his brother or stepbrother, and stabbed his mother, Channel Lino, before turning the blade on his father, Jose Adan Perez.
Authorities believe the knife attack stemmed from a domestic dispute.
By Friday morning, the front desk of the high-rise apartment building in Jamaica had been transformed into a growing memorial of candles, balloons and stuffed animals in tribute to Jacob.
Rivera described the boy as a ball of youthful energy and joy.
“He was so jolly. He was so happy. That’s a little boy, that’s a regular active 8-year-old — jumping around, so happy. He loved his mother, always ‘mom, mom, mommy,’ it’s so sad,” she said.
“They were just my neighbors, they were so happy, so lovable. You would never think in a million years,” she added of the tragic slaying.
Cops were called to the gory scene after Felix’s mother, bleeding badly from a stab wound in her back, ran outside “pleading for her life,” NYPD Chief John Chell said Thursday.
Inside the family’s “extremely small” Jamaica apartment, cops saw Felix had stabbed Perez, 43, once in the chest and was holding him in a headlock with a knife to his throat over the kitchen sink.
“They gave repeated commands, both in English and Spanish, to drop the knife. He did not. One officer fired one round, striking the target, saving that man’s life,” said Chell.
The family of four was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where Jacob and Felix succumbed to their injuries.
An 8-month-old infant who was also in the home was left unscathed in the havoc.
Another neighbor, Cheyenne, 37, who didn’t want to give her last name, praised the NYPD for saving the dad’s life.
“Keep up the good work!” the preschool teacher and romance novel writer said while clapping.