Rizzo
TOWN OF WALLKILL – Police have charged a Town of Cornwall man with
felony assault for allegedly stabbing an acquaintance more than 20 times
with a folding knife.
Jonathan Rizzo, 20, is being held on $50,000 bail in the Orange County
Jail.
State Police Troop F Major Joseph Tripodo and Cornwall-on-Hudson Police
Chief Steven Dixon, Thursday, told reporters Rizzo, and the 21-year-old
victim, whose name they did not release, were talking on the street for
a period of time before the 2:40 a.m. incident, which escalated to the
point where Rizzo stabbed the victim. He remains in St. Luke’s Cornwall
Hospital in Cornwall with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Dixon said it is “a miracle” that the victim is alive, given
the number of stab wounds to his torso and head. He also suffered a fractured
hand and skill as a result of the attack.
Rizzo turned himself in to Cornwall Town Police some two hours later.
Police News Conference
The officers would only say the incident was precipitated by a personal
dispute between the two men for an unknown reason. But, Tripodo said there
was obviously rage involved.
“Obviously no one knows what goes through the mind of somebody who
is stabbing somebody 20 times for whatever reason. Obvious there was some
serious rage involved. All we do know there were stab wounds in excess
of 20 and the victim also suffered a fractured skull and a fractured right
hand,” he said.
Chief Dixon said in the four years that he has been chief, this is the
first violent crime of this nature to have occurred. He emphasized the
village is a quiet, bedroom community.
