A night of family fun went horribly wrong for twin sisters and their brother when they went out for snacks to a Brooklyn deli, encountering a man who became enraged when one of the young women wouldn’t follow him back on Instagram as he drunkenly tried flirting with her — going on to kill one twin and wound the other — the surviving sister told the Daily News on Sunday evening.
Samyia and Sanyia Spain, 19-year-olds with names as similar as their bond was tight, took a break from a family game night to walk over to Natural Plus deli on the corner of Fourth Ave. and St Marks Place in Park Slope around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Sanyia.
When a friend pointed out someone had approached Samyia, Sanyia stepped in.
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
One young woman was killed and another left injured when an unhinged man attacked in the early hours of Sunday.(Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
“I grabbed her phone and I was like, ‘Come with me, come with me,’” said Sanyia. “I was like, ‘Why are you talking to that boy?’ She said, ‘I don’t want to talk to that boy.’”
Samyia didn’t want to give the man her phone number so she instead provided her Instagram handle.
“She said she wasn’t going to follow him back,” Sanyia recounted. “That’s it. She said no.”
The man began arguing with the teens and left the bodega — but came back minutes later.
“He pushed little Samyia and then I pushed him,” Sanyia told The News. “And then everybody else started pushing him out the door.
A man working at the shop kicked the belligerent and his friends out and locked the door. Sanyia watched as the group walked away.
“When we were done waiting for our food, he let us out of the store,” Sanyia recalled. “After he let us out the store, he had locked the door behind us.”
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
The sisters, both 19, were attacked near Fourth Ave. and St. Marks Place in Park Slope about 2:20 a.m. Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
Once outside, Sanyia spotted the man and two of his friends, but this time the aggressor was armed with a knife.
The man and two of his friends quickly accosted the family.
“He had a knife in his hand and was saying, ‘I’m gonna stab y’all in the face,’” Sanyia said. “I’m telling everyone to back up. And he pushed little Samyia to the ground.”
When it appeared the knifeman was going to charge toward Samyia, the twins’ older brother stepped in and punched him.
The man fell to the floor as the group started brawling.
“As I was going to grab [Samyia’s phone], he stabbed me in my arm,” Sanyia said of the knife-wielding attacker. “Samyia then asked him to give her the phone back and he stabbed her in the neck.”
Rebecca White for New York Daily News
A memorial for Samyia, 19, who was stabbed early Sunday in Park Slope. (Rebecca White for New York Daily News)
Samyia was stabbed in the chest and neck during the chaos, according to police.
“She said, ‘I’m about to faint,’” Sanyia recalled. “As soon as she said I’m about to faint, I called 911.”
Medics took both twins to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Brooklyn Methodist, where Samyia died. Sanyia was released after being treated for her own wound.
As the family reels from the loss, friend and neighbors have set up a makeshift memorial outside their home.
“I’m trying to be strong for [our parents],” said the surviving twin, who appeared to be still in shock as of Sunday evening.
The investigation is ongoing.
