Queens man found guilty of murdering FDNY medic

Alison Russo was stabbed to death in 2022. Peter Zisopoulos, who was only recently found mentally fit to stand trial, was found guilty by a jury for her murder. Photo via FDNY/X

By Noah Powelson

Nearly three years after an FDNY veteran working in Queens was brutally stabbed multiple times in a random attack, the man accused of the killing was found guilty of all charges on Monday.

The courtroom was packed with EMS and FDNY blue shirts as friends, coworkers and family of the victim, Alison Russo, watched in silent solidarity as a jury found 37-year-old Peter Zisopoulos guilty of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

For years, Zisopoulos has denied he killed Russo, claiming he never left his apartment that day. At times, Zisopoulos, who was not initially found mentally fit to stand trial, claimed that he was the victim of a police plot against him.

The jury deliberated for less than one hour before finding Zisopoulos guilty of all the charges brought against him, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.

The trial, which lasted just under two weeks, employed extensive use of video surveillance and eye witnesses to capture the afternoon attack, in which Russo was stabbed 20 times with a serrated knife just around the block from her fire station. Several witnesses were neighbors of Zisopoulos, and said he and his family were commonly seen throughout the neighborhood.

Video evidence, which included footage taken from street cameras, police body worn cameras and witnesses’ phones provided a clear chronological timeline of the attack and where the killer fled after.

Around 2 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2022, Russo was in uniform and on duty when she walked down 41st Street in Astoria. She turned the corner onto 20th Avenue when a man suddenly rushed her from behind and attacked her with a knife.

Several witnesses, including a man working a shop nearby, a man passing by on a bike and a woman who lived across the street, saw the attack transpire. The man on the bike attempted to help Russo, but was chased away by the attacker. The woman who lived across the street took several pictures of the attacker, and called 911. Another witness followed the attacker afterwards, and later informed police which building he fled to.

Those eye witnesses identified the attacker as Zisopoulos at trial.

When police arrested Zisopoulos later that day, body camera footage showed Zisopoulos had a kitchen knife in his pocket. That knife was later found to have a mix of his own DNA and Russo’s DNA.

Additionally, police found an injury on Zisopoulos’ hand that he apparently received while stabbing Russo, and also found blood on his bed.

“Alison Russo was a long-time public servant who cared deeply for the people of New York. Our city is still in mourning for a woman who saved countless lives as a member of the FDNY EMS and as a volunteer with her local ambulance company on Long Island,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. “This defendant, armed with a serrated kitchen knife, repeatedly stabbed Russo in an unprovoked attack in September 2022 as the woman walked less than a block from her EMS stationhouse. Sadly, despite the extraordinary intervention of her EMS coworkers and emergency room doctors, Russo could not be saved. “

While the evidence appeared to suggest Zisopoulos was behind the attack, legal hurdles centered around the defendant’s mental state made many wonder if he would ever face trial.

Zisopoulos was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008. When Zisopoulos was found unfit to stand trial in August 2023, the defendant seemed to understand where he was, that he was facing murder charges, who his attorneys were and the overall court process he found himself in.

But Zisopoulos also expressed paranoid delusions that police officers were conspiring against him, that evidence was forged or tampered with, and that he never left his apartment the day Russo was killed. In mental health proceedings that happened earlier this year, two court-appointed mental health experts who interviewed the defendant said they believed Zisopoulos was delusional and psychotic.

Despite these incidents, presiding Supreme Court Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant said that Zisopoulos had also exhibited signs he was rational. Zisopoulos had rejected the use of a psychiatric defense, a defense that would require him admitting guilt and being institutionalized. Such a decision, Pandit-Durant determined, showed calculated thought and awareness of his situation.

Both during the trial and in interviews with reporters, Zisopoulos repeatedly gave bizarre and, at times, contradictory explanations for his version of events on Sept. 29, 2022, when Russo was murdered.

Zisopoulos denied he left his apartment that day. He claimed he woke up around 8 a.m., ate some cereal, watched TV, fell asleep again, then woke up hours later when police knocked on his door.

He claimed the injury on his hand was not from stabbing Russo, but happened when he was covering the peephole to his apartment door with his hand and police officers broke the peephole. He also claimed the blood on his bed was from days ago when his sister, who he lives with, had a nosebleed.

During closing arguments Zisopoulos’ attorney, Johnathan Latimer, repeated the phrase, “It’s not Peter” to the jury.

Latimer said that, even if the jury agrees Zisopoulos killed Russo, they couldn’t find him guilty for second-degree murder because the prosecution did not prove Zisopoulos’ intentions.

Latimer argued that the killer attacked Russo wildly and erratically, and that stabbing her did not necessarily mean the intention was murder.

The defense also argued that the fact Zisopoulos did not attempt to flee or hide the knife showed that he was not thinking clearly, and that could indicate his mental state was impaired.

"Intent to kill is something the prosecution has to prove," Latimer told the jury. “And intent was not clearly established."

Queens Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe claimed Zisopoulos’ attorneys were only trying to distract the jury by bringing up his mental state, and that his intent is made clear in video evidence.

"You are not here to speculate about what is going on in the defendant's mind,” Selkowe said. “That's not what this trial is about."

Selkowe argued that Zisopoulos had every intention to take a life that day, and replayed video evidence to prove that point.

Surveillance footage showed that after Russo walked past the apartment entrance, her killer opened the door, looked around the corner, saw Russo, then sprinted down the sidewalk with a knife.

Selkowe claimed that the footage showed Zisopoulos was waiting in the entrance of his apartment building with a knife, ready to attack the first person he saw.

Additionally, Selkowe claimed, the knife wounds themselves showed intent. Forensic evidence and experts showed that all 20 stab wounds hit Russo in the chest. Russo’s heart was stabbed multiple times, and even pierced completely through once. The targeted stabs, Selkowe argued, shows the intent could only possibly be to end Russo’s life.

It was an argument the jury ultimately quickly agreed with.

Pandit-Durant scheduled Zisopoulos’ sentencing for June 30, 2025. He faces 25 years to life in prison.

“I hope this conviction brings Alison’s family, friends and coworkers solace as we continue to grieve her loss,” Katz said in a statement.

Russo had been an EMS member of the FDNY for nearly 25 years when she was killed. Russo also served as a first responder on 9/11, and was set to retire in the coming months before her death. She was posthumously promoted to captain.

Russo is survived by her parents and daughter.