Family and friends to remember Brooklyn jogger at wake later today

A wake will be held Wednesday evening for the woman murdered last month while jogging on a Brooklyn running path.

Friends and family will gather in Gravesend to remember Katie Suarez a day before her funeral mass at St. Simon & Jude Roman Catholic Church.

“Katie found joy in life’s simplest pleasures — her love for bunnies, K-pop, sharing delicious food, laughing with loved ones, and making beautiful memories,” her obituary read.

“She treasured time spent with her family, especially her visits to El Salvador, where she embraced her roots and the people she loved. She dreamed big, with goals like one day running a marathon, and had so much life and adventure ahead of her.”

Suarez helped save four lives through organ donation after her death. Nonprofit LiveOnNY said she donated her heart, both kidneys, liver and pancreas to people waiting on the national transplant list. She also donated her corneas.

The 28-year-old was stabbed to death on Oct. 30 while running along the Shore Parkway Greenway in Bath Beach. On Tuesday, lawmakers and community members called for better safety measures in that area.

“We should be safe 24 hours a day, lighting the promenade is not rocket science. It should not be this difficult,” State Senator Andrew Gounardes said.

The man charged with killing Suarez, 27-year-old Sayed Mohassib, was indicted Tuesday on a top count of second-degree murder. Mohassib was fired Monday from his job as a school aide with the Department of Education.

Mohassib served briefly as an NYPD officer for about a month in 2022. Law enforcement sources said he left to join the military, but mental health issues ended his time there and prevented him from being reinstated to the NYPD.

Most recently, Mohassib worked for the Department of Education as an elementary school aide at P.S. 200 in Bath Beach. Law enforcement sources said he returned to work at the school following Suarez’s murder.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he has ordered a full review into how he was hired, despite a history of mental health issues.

“I have directed my team to conduct a full review into this matter, I think underlining the importance of the fact that nothing is more paramount than the safety of our students,” Mamdani said when asked about it at an unrelated press conference on Monday.

It’s still unclear whether Suarez and Mohassib knew each other. Public records show that the two attended Brooklyn College at the same time, though it wasn’t clear if that played a role in the killing.