Gang Member Fatally Stabs Columbia U. Teaching Assistant

A giddy gangbanger fatally stabbed a Columbia University teaching assistant during a random late-night Manhattan crime spree where he knifed a second man before terrorizing a dog-walking couple in Central Park, authorities said Friday.

Ex-con Vincent Pinkney, on parole for a Queens gang assault conviction and owner of a long rap sheet, cried out in delight after the second Thursday night stabbing of man walking along Columbus Ave. near W. 110th St., a witness told the Daily News.

Vincent Pinkney

Police sources indicated the blood-thirsty attacker, arrested in Central Park after he was identified by the dog-walking couple, belonged to the Queens-based EBK gang, an acronym for “Everybody Killas.”

“He was ecstatic,” said a Columbia student who witnessed the second unprovoked attack shortly after the suspect fatally plunged his knife into the stomach of Davide Giri, 30.

Davide Giri

Giri, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science, was targeted as he walked home from a late-night soccer practice near the corner of W. 123rd St. and Amsterdam Ave. in Harlem.

The slaying was captured on video, with the suspect wielding a white-handled kitchen knife as he approached the unsuspecting stranger, a police source said.

Stunned eyewitnesses called 911 after the mortally-wounded Giri, targeted for no apparent reason, stumbled along the sidewalk, police said.

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The police source said the NYPD was also investigating Pinkney for another random stabbing about 22 hours earlier on W. 110th St. near Central Park.

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Pinkney, 25, of Manhattan, was previously arrested 16 times, including multiple charges of robbery and assault, according to law enforcement sources. He was out on parole for the Queens gang assault conviction that landed him behind bars for four years.

The victim in the 2013 beatdown was attacked by Pinkney and four other men, and he needed 25 stitches to close a cut on the face and another 20 staples for a gash to his head.

After Pinkney stabbed Giri, he headed south through Morningside Park in search of more targets, cops said.

When the deranged suspect reached W. 110th St. and Columbus Ave., he charged second victim Robert Malastina, 27, from behind before plunging the knife into the man’s back and then chest. {snip}

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