| Background information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Maksim Gelman |
| Occupation | Unemployed |
| Born | 1988 Ukraine |
| Killings | |
| Location(s) | New York City, New York, United States |
| Killed | 4 |
| Injured | 5 |
| Weapon(s) | 8-inch Wusthof Chef's knife[1] Car |
Maksim Gelman (born 1988[2]) is a man who committed a 28-hour killing spree that lasted from February 11 to 12, 2011 in New York City, which included the stabbing and killing of four people and the wounding of at least five others.[3]
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Gelman's father had immigrated to the United States in 1992 on a refugee status. Maksim and his mother Svetlana joined two years later and moved to New York staying in the United States even after Maksim's father returned to Ukraine upon gaining American citizenship. Maksim became a citizen in 2005.[4]
Gelman attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, according to a former student there, but it is unclear if he graduated, and was known around school as being a skateboarder.[4] He has a record with law enforcement, having been previously arrested ten other times, mostly for graffiti-related offenses. Amongst graffiti artists, the few who knew of him saw him as a largely unwanted troublemaker.[5] He was also reportedly a drug user and small-time dealer. On 26 January 2011, Gelman had been arrested for charges relating to crack cocaine.[6]
Police reports state that on the morning of February 11, 2011, Gelman stabbed and killed his mother's companion Aleksandr Kuznetsov in Brooklyn after an argument with his mother about driving Kuznetsov's vehicle.[4] His mother was not hurt.
According to the reports' timeline, Gelman then went to the house of a female acquaintance named Yelena Bulchenko, where he killed her mother Anna. He then allegedly hid inside the house, waiting for Yelena to return. When she came back six hours later, Gelman chased her out of the home after she tried to dial 911. He stabbed her eleven times, killing her, before speeding off in Kuznetsov's car. He later rammed another car, stabbed and injured its driver, Arthur DiCrescento, and carjacked his vehicle. Gelman later ran down 62-year-old Stephen Tannenbaum, who subsequently died of his injuries.[6]
Gelman next stabbed and wounded a number of individuals in various stages during the rampage, including Shelden Pottinger, whose vehicle Gelman stole and drove off on.[4] Finally, after boarding a northbound 3 train at 34th Street - Penn Station, he stabbed Joseph Lozito, who works as a ticket seller at the Lincoln Center and is a Mixed Martial Arts fan.[7] According to some reports,[6] Gelman started banging on the door of the motorman's cab, demanding to be let in, at which point two police officers assigned to the manhunt arrived and subdued him after a struggle with Lozito's help. According to other accounts,[8] Lozito actively defended himself, engaging Gelman in a physical confrontation that allowed transit officers Terrance Howell and Tamara Taylor along with off-duty Detective Marcelo Razzo to subdue and restrain Gelman, who was apprehended at Times Square - 42nd Street.[6][8]
On February 13, 2011, Gelman was arraigned in a Brooklyn courtroom on charges of murder and assault, where he was represented by public defender Michael Baum.[4] While being led from the police precinct to the courthouse, in front of a crowd of onlooker and reporters, Gelman reportedly showed no remorse, saying that he had been "set up."[8]
Although no motive for the murders has been yet offered by the authorities, it has been speculated in the media that the rampage was triggered by Gelman's advances being scorned by Yelena Bulchenko.[4][6][9].
On November 30, 2011, Gelman pleaded guilty to all charges and is expected to be sentenced to the maximum term of life in prison on January 11, 2012 [10]