Suspect charged after stabbing twin sisters in Brooklyn, leaving one dead

The suspect allegedly stabbed twins after they turned down his advances

A man has been charged for allegedly stabbing nineteen-year-old twin sisters in New York City, leaving one dead.

Veo Kelly, 20, turned himself in on 22 March to the New York Police Department’s 78 Precinct, according to the New York Daily News. He has been charged with murder, assault and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, the NYPD told The Independent.

20-year-old Veo Kelly turned himself in to the New York Police Department on Friday (FOX 5 New York)

Samyia and Sanyia Spain were stabbed at a deli in Park Slope, Brooklyn around 2am on 17 March. Samyia was stabbed in the chest, and later died of her injuries in hospital, police said. Sanyia was stabbed in the arm and has since been released from hospital.

The sisters had allegedly rejected Mr Kelly’s advances before the attack. Sanyia Spain told the Daily News that she tried to remove herself and her sister from the situation in the deli.

“I grabbed her phone and I was like, ‘Come with me, come with me,’” she said. “I was like, ‘Why are you talking to that boy?’ She said, ‘I don’t want to talk to that boy.’”

Samyia Spain was fatally stabbed in a Brooklyn bodega on 17 March (myia.2xx/Instagram)

The twins were with their older brother, and had just left a family game night. Sanyia told the Daily News that the deli worker ejected the individual from the store and locked the door. However once the siblings left the deli, they saw the man and two of his friends.

“He had a knife in his hand and was saying, ‘I’m gonna stab y’all in the face,’” Sanyia told the New York Daily News. “I’m telling everyone to back up. And he pushed little Samyia to the ground.”

As the man approached, the twins’ brother punched him in the face.

“As I was going to grab [Samyia’s phone], he stabbed me in my arm,” Sanyia said. “Samyia then asked him to give her the phone back, and he stabbed her in the neck.”

Slope Natural Plus deli in Brooklyn, New York, where Samyia Spain was fatally stabbed (Google Maps)

Sanyia said that she called the police after her sister told her, “I’m going to faint.”

““I’m trying to be strong for [our parents],” she added.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told the Daily News that Mr Kelly’s attorney had made contact with investigators. Police searched Mr Kelly’s apartment on Thursday after identifying him as a suspect.

Mr Kenny said the suspect became angry after the twins turned him down, describing him as “aggressive.”

Mr Kelly is being held by police and due in court on 27 March, according to the New York City Department of Corrections.

Community members shared their grief over the tragic loss. "They’re very nice. I know their father, too. They come here all the time, customers for maybe over, I would say, over 10 years I know them," Mohammed Alba, who works at the deli where the attack took place but was not present on the night Samyia was killed, told CBS News. "Take somebody else’s life, a young lady, 19 years old, a beautiful girl.”

A memorial of flowers, teddy bears and candles has gathered outside of Samyia’s home.