A 34-year-old woman was stabbed to death by her brother inside their Brooklyn apartment early Wednesday, police said.
Darnell Farmer called 911 around 6:15 a.m. and confessed to having stabbed his sister, Latoya Farmer, inside their 14th-floor Starrett City apartment, police said.
Cops raced to their home on Pennsylvania Ave. near Geneva Loop in East New York and found the victim sprawled dead on the floor suffering from multiple stab wounds, officials said.
“I knew her,” said a shocked neighbor who declined to give his name. “I met her at the gym. She used to work at the gym years ago … She was very friendly.”
Darnell Farmer, 31, was taken into custody at the scene. He was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
“I don’t know what would posses him to do that to her,” said a neighbor who has known the family for about 20 years.
“I did know that he’s a schizophrenic. I also heard he was off his medication so maybe that triggered it.
But she said the brother, who she called a “sweetheart,” had never seemed threatening.
“I hear him singing on the terrace. He’s friendly. He’s always smiling,” she said. “I’m completely shocked.”
Before the slaying, Darnell Farmer stormed out of the apartment during an argument with his sister, according to police sources. He returned and resumed the quarrel, during which he allegedly stabbed her with a kitchen knife, the sources said.
The bloody knife was recovered from the scene, police said.
“I know they had a fight a couple of weeks ago,” said the female neighbor. “He lost friends behind the fight so it was a serious fight.”
A woman who works in the apartment next door as a home attendant said her client heard fighting the night before the slaying.
“Yesterday she heard yelling and banging on the wall,” said Gulnica Mamayupova, 56. But hearing fights from the apartment was not unusual, Mamayupova said.
“I come in the morning and there’s more police,” the home attendant said.
“It’s very sad,” said a 74-year-old neighbor who gave her name as Agnes. “I don’t like to hear about murder in the building, especially when it’s so close.”
Darnell Farmer’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending late Wednesday night.
