NY Man Accused of Stabbing EMT to Death Says Video of Attack Was ‘Photoshopped’

A Queens man charged with stabbing an EMT to death a year ago says he was home watching “Star Wars” at the time and that surveillance video and photos showing the brutal attack were “photoshopped.”

FDNY Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, 61, was getting food in Queens when Peter Zisopoulos, 35, allegedly knocked her over and stabbed her 19 times with a steak knife, as CrimeOnline previously reported. After the stabbing, he barricaded himself in his apartment which was located nearby. Police eventually got him to surrender and took him into custody.

Zisopoulos gave an interview to The New York Post, claiming someone set him up.

“That day I was inside watching TV. I never went outside,” he said.

Zisopoulos was sent to the upstate Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center during the past year and was recently found mentally fit for trial.

“A guy that looks like me, there’s a guy that looks like me stabbing her,” he said. “They have phony pictures. They photoshopped it. I guess they really hate me.”

Russo-Elling was a 9/11 World Trade Center first responder who was planning her retirement — in six months — at the time of the attack. A

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Zisopoulos has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

“I got arrested in a police raid. My apartment was raided by SWAT,” Zisopoulos told The Post. “I was sitting on my bed. It wasn’t a commercial break. I think I finished watching the movie. I was just thinking to myself, staring at the wall. Then I heard knocking and the police wanted to come in but I didn’t let them in. So they kicked in the metal door and I got arrested.”

Zisopoulos said it was “easier for them to convict me than it is to convict the average person, because I have an illness.”

He added that he doesn’t have adequate counsel.

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[Featured image: Alison Russo-Elling/Facebook]