A hardworking immigrant grandfather stabbed to death during his shift at a Brooklyn IHOP was slain by a former coworker he had always been friendly with, the victim’s family told the Daily News Sunday.
Hector Reinoso Perez’s relatives cried out in Spanish for “justice” as they mourned the 67-year-old victim, who was stabbed just before 10:40 p.m. Friday inside the IHOP on Flatlands Ave. near Louisiana Ave. in East New York.
“They had a good friendship,” said his granddaughter, who didn’t give her name. “They never had any arguments. They were good.”
Police took a person of interest in custody though charges are still pending, cops said Sunday. The killer used to work at the IHOP and knew Reinoso Perez, police sources confirmed.
A 41-year-old coworker suffered a slash wound to his hand trying to fight off the attacker who killed Reinoso Perez.
But when the killer first showed up at the eatery Friday, claiming he was there to meet a friend, there were no signs of trouble, the victim’s family said.
“They were all talking casually,” Danelis Reinoso, 43, the victim’s daughter, told The News Saturday, speaking in Spanish as his granddaughter translated. “(Reinoso Perez) went to the bathroom. He got up to go to the bathroom and the guy, he chased after him and he stabbed him.”
The killer stabbed him only once but the long blade tore through his kidneys, liver and other organs, Reinoso said.
“The doctors couldn’t do anything,” she said. “He stabbed him so hard. He wanted him to die.”
Reinoso described her father as the caring patriarch of the family who never lost his innocence, “like a little kid in his old body.” He and his wife had been together for 50 years.
The victim immigrated from the Dominican Republic about five years ago in search of a better life.
“It was just better for him here,” the granddaughter recounted. “He found a job here (at IHOP) and he actually really loved his job … He’s worked at that job ever since he came.”
An IHOP spokesman expressed condolences.
“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of our team member, as well as with the entire team at this location,” he said. “We are cooperating fully with the local law enforcement investigation.”
Reinoso Perez worked in the front of the restaurant on Fridays and as a dishwasher other days. When he lived in the Dominican Republic, he used to work for the mayor of the city where he lived, near Santo Domingo, his family said.
“He was a very caring, sweet person and he never had any problems with anyone,” his daughter said. “He never got into any trouble.”
With Rebecca White
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