East Harlem Murder Suspect Smoked Cigarette After Attack: Report

EAST HARLEM, NY — Police have taken a man into custody in connection with a deadly stabbing in East Harlem. Police received a report around noon Saturday that someone was being attacked inside a building near East 123rd Street and 3rd Avenue.

Officers found a 51-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds to her torso on the 2200 block of 3rd Avenue. Emergency workers rushed her to Harlem Hospital where she died, police said.

Pedro Vinent-Barcia, 62, of the 2000 block of Lexington Avenue, was arrested and charged with murder, police said. An investigation remains ongoing.

The victim wasn't immediately identified.

The New York Daily News, citing police, witnesses and surveillance video, reported that Vinent-Barcia was the victim's ex-boyfriend and that the attack happened inside a cellphone store. Witnesses told the Daily News the attacker casually walked away after the stabbing and smoked a cigarette outside.

“He walked away like he didn’t do anything, smoking a cigarette outside,” Sam Saleh, whose family owns the store, told the Daily News.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Brandon Krisel/Patch