UPPER WEST SIDE — A schizophrenic ex-con who was hospitalized after threatening to kill his brother carried out the murder the day he was released, police and relatives said.
Francisco Perez, 56, fatally stabbed Luis Gonzalez, who was also his roommate, in a fight at their Upper West Side apartment Thursday night, police said.
Perez, who spent two stints in prison, was arrested at the scene and charged with murder, family and officials said.
Luis Gonzalez, 63, and Perez were fighting inside their apartment at 58 W. 105th St., near Manhattan Avenue, about 9:29 p.m., an NYPD spokesman said Friday morning.
Perez stabbed Gonzalez multiple times in the torso, the spokesman said.
Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members said that they'd tried to help Perez with his schizophrenia but it was too difficult for them to handle.
"I looked out for him, but he's schizophrenic. He was completely deranged," said Perez's great-niece, Anayess Dominguez, 18.
"He was admitted to Metropolitan Hospital two or three days ago for saying he was going to kill Luis. They let him out yesterday and he acted on it. We believed he was going to do it. He's been violent in the past. The hospital failed us."
Hospital spokesman Noel Alicea said Friday that he was unable to confirm if Perez had been a patient.
When there is a reasonable likelihood that a patient is a threat to themselves or others, that patient is admitted to an inpatient unit, voluntarily or involuntarily," said Bob de Luna, the press secretary for NYC Health and Hospitals, which oversees Metropolitan Hospital.
"Each case is unique. No patient is released without a clinical assessment that the discharge is safe, to themselves and others," de Luna added.
Perez had twice been admitted for psychiatric help and was prescribed medicine, which he didn't take, Dominguez said.
"He didn't take his medication. This has been happening. He's had those violent tendencies for years," Dominguez said.
Police had been called to the brothers' apartment for domestic incidents in 2006, 2007 and 2009, a spokesman said.
Perez has been arrested "more than a dozen times," an NYPD spokesman said.
Perez was convicted in December 1981 for robbery and spent the next four years behind bars, prison records show.
He was convicted again in 2000 for selling controlled substances and spent the next two years in prison until he was paroled, records show.
He was arrested again in 2015 for criminal possession of a controlled substance, an NYPD spokesman said.
After this arrest, Perez was admitted to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, Dominguez said.
A neighbor saw Perez outside nearby St. Luke's hospital recently.
"He said, 'I'm sick, Carmen. I'm sick. I don't feel well,'" said neighbor Carmen Ortiz, 60.
"His feet were black. He had on sandals. He wasn't there. He was out of it. He walked with his head down," Ortiz said.
Ortiz also recalled that Perez would often dress for the wrong season, wearing shorts in winter and coats in the summer.
"There were a lot of red flags," she said.
Relatives mourned Gonzalez, remembering him as kind and giving.
"He was a loving, lively guy. He was a family man. He loved music, salsa, the old jams. He was a terrific grandfather," Dominguez said.
She last saw Gonzalez about 9 p.m. Thursday night when she reminded him to give her lunch money the next morning.
"He said, 'I'm not going to the house now. I'm going later,'" Dominguez said.
"We smiled and I gave him a pound and held his hand quick. Who knew that was going to be the last time I saw him."
Gonzalez had talked to his granddaughter about the threats his brother made, but always thought nothing of it, Dominguez said.
"They were brothers. He brushed it off. He didn't think he'd actually do this."
