Brooklyn family mourns 19-year-old twin stabbed to death at Park Slope bodega

The 19-year-old woman who died on Sunday after she was stabbed in the chest at a bodega in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was a college student and an aspiring cosmetologist, her grieving family said.

Police continued to search on Monday for the man who allegedly attacked Samyia Spain and her twin sister Sanyia around 2:20 a.m. Sunday at the Slope Natural Plus deli on 4th Avenue and St. Marks Place, just two blocks from the twins’ home in Boerum Hill.

Their relatives were still trying to understand how an apparent dispute where the man was accosting the women escalated into violence. An NYPD spokesperson said the women were involved in a confrontation with the man, but didn’t have further details.

“These girls probably didn't have a fear in their heart that anything was going to happen to them in the neighborhood that they grew up in, with all these people,” said Markita McMillan, the twins’ aunt.

The sisters were hanging out in their apartment at the Wyckoff Gardens housing complex when they decided to run out to grab food at a familiar place, according to McMillan.

The aunt, workers at the bodega and Sanyia, the surviving twin, all said the man became violent after Samyia rejected his advances.

“He was trying to get their number and they rejected him, and he went off from there,” McMillan said. “It was no reason for him to stab anybody. It was just senseless to me.”

Slope Natural Plus worker Mohemmed Albeher told Gothamist he wasn’t working at the time of the incident, but said his coworkers had tried to protect the women by pushing a group of men out of the store and locking the door. He said the suspect and his friends appeared to be drunk and might have come from a party at a nearby club.

When the girls finally left the store, Albeher said, the suspect was waiting for them outside. “They come out and start talking to each other, and the guy pulled a knife out and stabbed the sisters,” he recalled.

Both women were transported to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where Samyia was pronounced dead and Sanyia — who was stabbed in the arm — was treated for her injuries and released, according to police.

Spain’s death was one in a spate of killings across the city over the weekend. On Saturday, two men were killed in separate incidents in East Flatbush — one in a fatal shooting and the other after a parking dispute erupted into violence.

Police also reported a fatal shooting in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx on Saturday night and a deadly stabbing in East Harlem around noon Sunday.

So far, police have arrested one person in connection with the parking dispute, and the other incidents remain under investigation, according to the NYPD.

The fatal stabbing at the Park Slope bodega wasn’t the first killing at the premise’s doorstep. In 2021 a mother of two was fatally shot right outside by her alleged ex-girlfriend.

Albeher, the store employee, said it was hard to return to work after that. He urged city officials to “make the law tougher” in response to violent crimes.

Police data shows murder is rare in Park Slope. The NYPD’s 78th precinct, which encompasses the neighborhood and Prospect Park, reported two homicides last year. A murder-suicide in January was the most recent high-profile crime in Park Slope before Spain was killed.

McMillan, the twins’ aunt, said she was “confident” that the police would find the suspect who stabbed her nieces, but added that she’s worried about the overall state of violence in the city where she grew up. The family said they were offering a small reward in hopes that people would come forward with information about Samyia’s killer.

“I'm scared to go down this building and walk downstairs because you don't know what you're facing,” McMillan said, expressing fear for her own 14-year-old daughter.

“They were so beautiful, fun-going,” she continued. “Samyia had a good head on her shoulders. She wanted to make something out of herself and so did Sanyia.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated a specific college Samyia Spain attended.