Rizzo
TOWN OF WALLKILL – Police 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 in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
State Police Troop F Major Joseph Tripodo and Cornwall-on-Hudson Police
Chief Steven Dixon, told reporters on Thursday that 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 skull as a result of the attack.
Rizzo turned himself in to Cornwall Town Police some two hours later.
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,” Tripodo said. “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.”
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.
