By Jeff Mays and Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producers
SUGAR HILL — A 10-year-old girl and an 8-year old boy watched from the their St. Nicholas Place apartment Thursday night as someone stabbed their uncle to death on the street below.
The victim, identified by the family as 36-year-old Donovan Russell of the Bronx, was unaware of the impending attack until the girl screamed out in an effort to warn her uncle.
The girl, whose name DNAinfo is withholding, was sitting on her fire escape with her cousin when she saw someone running at Russell from behind with a knife.
"I yelled, 'Uncle, watch your back,' the girl said Friday. "The attacker had a knife and he tried to run."
The girl said the assailant stabbed her uncle and then chased him down a set of stairs, where he may have been stabbed again.
"I was screaming and screaming," said the girl, who then ran downstairs in her pajamas and slippers.
Police got the call around 10:47 p.m. that a man had been stabbed in front of 2 St. Nicholas Pl. between West 149th and 150th streets. When they arrived at the scene, police found a 36-year-old man with a stab wound to the back, the NYPD said.
The victim was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
No arrests had been made.
Russell's sister, Andrea Johnson, explained that she was outside with her brother when a woman tried to stab her and a man came after her brother.
"He said, 'Andrea, watch out!'" Johnson said of her brother.
Johnson said she was able to fend off the knife attack by backing up and using her pocketbook as a shield. But then she saw her brother had been seriously hurt.
"He called my name four or five times and he said: 'Andrea, I'm dead,'" Johnson said Friday as tears streamed down her face.
Whitney Woodson, 22, another of Russell's nieces, said she heard her cousins screaming as she slept in the room.
"I heard them yelling for Donovan to look out, and then they started yelling that he got stabbed, he got stabbed," said Woodson.
The 10-year-old girl said she arrived downstairs to find her uncle laying on the ground, but thought he might survive the attack.
"I told my counsin that I couldn't wait for Uncle Donovan to get out of the hospital, and my cousin said, 'if he gets out of the hospital,'" the girl said. "That's when I knew something was really wrong."
On Friday at the family's apartment, there were periodic bursts of tears as as family members looked at pictures of Russell.
They said he had come to New York from Jamaica three years ago in search of a better life, and described him as a handyman who did moving, plumbing and construction work.
"He wanted to do so many things," said Johnson, Russell's sister. "He wanted to go to school so he could get a good job and stop doing the odd jobs so he could make a better life for his family."
But this isn't the family's first brush with tragedy, Johnson said. Another brother was also stabbed to death in Jamaica.
Delza Brown, 63, who said Russell was her nephew, explained he came to visit her often and could be counted on to fix anything in the apartment that needed repair.
"He was just a loving person," she said.
Russell's sister Anne-Marie Crawford agreed.
"I sure miss my brother," she said as she held her young son, who was close to his "Uncle Dava" and loved when he came to visit.
"This morning my son woke up looking for his Uncle Dava," Crawford said. "I think he loved his uncle more than he loved me."
The 10-year-old girl who witnessed the stabbing said her uncle often spoke to her about the Bible.
"He told us about doing the right thing and he told us about life. He taught us about the Bible and different songs," the girl said.
But since she witnessed the murder, the girl has been getting sick and not sleeping well.
"I really miss my uncle," she said. "I still can't believe he's gone. I keep thinking he's coming back, but he's not."
