MS-13 Gang Member Nearly Beat His Ex-Girlfriend To Death With Stapler, Scissors: Police

A Bay Shore man was arrested Sunday evening after police say he nearly beat his ex-girlfriend to death a few days earlier at his mother's house.

According to police, the 32-year-old woman went to 19 West Columbia St. in Hempstead at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to talk with her ex-boyfriend's mother about financial assistance for their 14-year-old child. When she arrived, police say she was confronted by her ex, 30-year-old Kenny Cruz, a member of the MS-13 street gang, who began to argue with her.

Police say that argument escalated into violence when Cruz began to punch the woman in the face, then threw her to the ground and began to kick her. Then Cruz grabbed a stapler, police say, and struck her on the top of the head several times, causing cuts deep enough to expose her skull. Cruz continued to kick her in the face, police say, before he grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed her three times.

The woman tried to call for the police on her phone, but Cruz took it from her, police say, and prevented her from calling for help. Police say that Cruz's mother tried to prevent the assault, but Cruz threatened her with the scissors.

Eventually, the woman was able to run out of the building and drive home, where she was then taken to a hospital by her mother. She suffered three stab wounds, a collapsed lung and multiple cuts and bruises.

Cruz, of Union Boulevard in Bay Shore, was arrested Sunday at 5:15 p.m. He is charged with second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, first- and second-degree assault, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, two counts of second-degree menacing and fourth-degree criminal mischief. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Photo: Nassau County Police Department