Samyia and Sanyia Spain: Twin sisters stabbed, one fatally, after rejecting attacker’s advances

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: After rejecting their attacker's advances, 19-year-old twin sisters were stabbed outside a Brooklyn bodega early on Sunday morning, March 17.

One of the teens was killed in the attack, and the other was taken to the hospital in a stable condition.

Around 2.20 am, Samyia Spain and her sister Sanyia were attacked after they went out of Slope Natural Plus on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope where they were with a gathering of friends and family, according to sources and the police.

Attacker started hitting on the twins but was turned away

Relatives claim that the suspect attacked the twins after he tried to hit on them but his advances were turned down.

Alphonso Goodson, the girls’ grandfather, spoke with New York Post saying, “He walked in and started hitting on her. She said, ‘I don’t want to be bothered with you. Leave me alone.’ Then the storeowner put him out.”

“He started kicking on the door, he started banging on the door,” Goodson went on to say. “I don’t know if they called the police, but at that time [the storeowner] should have called. And then when [the twins] left the store, that’s when he attacked them."

“He was waiting for them,” he added. “He took it the wrong way. He came after them. That was wrong. That was dead wrong. I hope they catch this guy.”

While her sister was stabbed in the arm and was listed in a stable condition at the hospital, Samyia was stabbed in the chest and later declared dead at New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

An individual identifying herself as the deceased teen's godmother told The Post that the twins had spent the earlier part of the evening at a party with friends.

The woman, who only wanted to be identified as China, said on Sunday, "She was with her mother and sister. It was a whole bunch of them. They had a game night."

Regarding the attacker, who is still at large, she remarked, I don’t even know who he is. I’ve never seen him.”

Only a few blocks from the bodega and hours after the deadly attack, distraught family members gathered outside the dead teen's apartment building to erect a makeshift memorial complete with candles, teddy bears, and flowers.

One friend described her as a "very good person."

"She was in school, she was working. She was very lovable. She didn’t start any trouble. All she wanted to do was have fun. She didn’t have to go out like that."

“She wasn’t like a party girl,” the friend said. “It was her first time trying to go out to have fun.”

Samyia Spain seemed to be excited for the party as she posts on her Instagram page that she is getting a tattoo on Saturday, March 16.

“Game night at 9 pop out,” a message on the page reads.

No one has been taken into custody

In her most recent post, which features her grinning inside an apartment, she wrote, "My friends looking for me in the club but I’m drunk making new friends."

However, the girl's aunt claimed that the group did visit a nearby club following their house party and that the suspects were also present there.

Her friend went on to say that Spain didn't know her attacker and then attributed the attack to the city's inadequate funding for mental health services.

“It was some random person. It’s surprising, very surprising. It was a kitchen knife,” the friend said.

“You know who I blame? The government, for the simple fact, y’all cut all these mental health (care) off, and now look who’s running out here,” they added.

“Those are the people that don’t get in trouble. There are a thousand cameras and there is no arrest.”

At the memorial, a woman sobbingly told The Post that Spain was her goddaughter. “They better catch him, she don’t deserve that,” she said.

After the party, the women went to the deli where they ran into two men who approached them and got angry when they turned them down.

“They’re not sober. They get rejected and they just escalated it ten-fold. We (were) all having a good night before this,” the witness said. “We just had left and we went to the store to get food. We all were getting sandwiches, beef patties just to eat, we’re hungry and want to go home and this happens.”

The report states that the two men left the scene. Police are still investigating, and no one has been taken into custody.

“We’re all taking it very hard,” Goodson said. “My daughter, she’s taking it pretty hard. We never expect nothing like this to happen.”

The overnight stabbings happened outside the same bodega where, in 2021, surveillance footage purportedly showed a woman abruptly and blatantly killing her ex-girlfriend in broad daylight.