CCTV footage shows the shocking moment an 83-year-old man repeatedly stabs the property manager of his senior living complex.
Suspect John Gula from Miami Beach, Florida, is now facing charges of attempted second-degree murder following the unprovoked attack.
The horrifying incident took place on August 4 at the Rebecca Towers, a building dedicated to senior housing.
Gula pulled a pocket knife and repeatedly stabbed Amelia Sola Ortiz after she told him he had failed a property inspection, according to the arrest report.
“Ortiz was last seen going to the 10th floor to speak to the defendant in reference to a failed inspection and the state of his apartment,” it states.
The surveillance footage, obtained by NBC News affiliate WTVJ, has no audio but shows who cops believe are Gula and his girlfriend speaking to Ortiz for several minutes.
The knifeman then puts down an item that was in his hand and reaches into his pocket for a folding knife, slowly opening it up before repeatedly lunging at her.
Ortiz, who was initially stabbed out of view of the camera, staggers forward, trying to push her attacker away as blood from the left side of her chest pools through her shirt.
In the frenzy, Ortiz knocked him into the wall and into his girlfriend who appeared to try to help get the knife off him.
She successfully disarmed him, throwing the knife down the hall while bleeding heavily.
But the crazed senior who was covered in blood, continued to fight her and tried to pull a second knife from his pocket and stab her from behind, officers say.
The trio continued to struggle but Ortiz staggered away with blood on her face, clutching her phone in her right hand until she found the apartment of a witness who called 911, the report says.
Police say one witness reported hearing her shout “help me, help me.”
Officers responding to the bloody attack found Ortiz lying unresponsive on the floor with blood pouring from her head and chest, the arrest document states.
She was “profusely bleeding from the head and chest area with what appeared to be a stab wound to the torso,” cops say.
It added that she also had a laceration on the back of her head from the assault.
Ortiz was taken to the Jackson Memorial Hospital Trauma Center for treatment.
Officers then located Gula hiding in his girlfriend’s apartment shortly after, the arrest report states.
They used CCTV footage to trace his steps from the tenth floor where the attack happened, to the apartment on the seventh floor.
Cops say this is where they found Gula emerging from the bathroom with blood on his shoes.
The octogenarian is being held at Metrowest Detention Center in Doral without bond.
He is due in court on November 20 and has not spoken to investigators since his arrest, the affidavit states.
“This appears to be an isolated incident between the property manager, who’s the victim, and a resident, who’s the offender, over a property dispute,” Miami Beach Police spokesperson Christopher Bess told WSVN.
The incident happened at The Rebecca Towers senior housing complex in Miami Beach last month[/caption]
