Nabbed! Cops haul madman Maksim Gelman, 23, out of the Times Square subway station this morning. (Warzer jaff)
MAYHEM: After murdering Yelena Bulchenko, 20, and her 56-year-old mother ,Anna (top), Gelman allegedly stabbed and carjacked Sheldon Pottinger on the Eastern Parkway (lower right). Left: Bloody knife cops found at the subway station. (facebook /warzer jaffe./william miller)
The madman responsible for four murders and three stabbings in Brooklyn was busted today after continuing his astoundingly bloody rampage on a crowded subway train in Manhattan, police said.
Maksim Gelman, 23, was nabbed on an uptown No. 3 train stopped in a tunnel between 34th Street and Times Square on Seventh Avenue at around 9:15 a.m., said police sources.
“She had to die,” Gelman told cops after his arrest, referring to the murder of one of his victims, 20-year-old ex-girlfriend Yelena Bulchenko, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
After Gelman got on the train, horrified passengers watched as he banged on the motorman’s door, yelling: “My girlfriend ruined my life,” said sources.
When the motorman didn’t respond, Gelman sliced a 40-year-old passenger in the neck, critically injuring him, said sources.
Transit Bureau officers Terrance Howell and Tamara Taylor were on the train, responded and arrested Gelman without incident. Aiding in the apprehension was off-duty detective Marcelo Razzo.
“I saw a stream of people coming from the front of the train. They looked upset. They had white faces,” said Hyun Jo, 35, of East Orange. “The conductor announced they ‘Found the guy who killed 4 people yesterday.’ I saw the blood in the other car when they let us off. It was crazy.”
Gelman’s vicious slay spree caused a night of terror in southern Brooklyn last night as police mounted a massive manhunt for him after a rampage that allegedly included: stabbing his mother’s boyfriend, ex-girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend’s mom to death; carjacking and viciously stabbing a man who blocked his getaway car’s escape; fatally running down a pedestrian as he sped away; attempting to carjack a livery cab after ditching his stolen car and then successfully carjacking and stabbing a man in a Nissan Maxima.
It also emerged today that shortly after killing his step father, he ran into a school crossing guard who had to be hospitalized.
The bloodshed began at around 5 a.m. yesterday with the smallest of provocations – a fight over his family’s Lexus, at their home in the Waterville Village Condo on East 27th Street and Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay.
After waking up his mother, Svetlana, to demand the keys to the 2004 car, her 6-foot-3, 280-pound boyfriend, Alexsandr Kuznetsov, 54, refused to hand them over. The two screamed at each other. Gelman’s mother told cops he appeared high.
After shouting for two minutes, Gelman allegedly pulled a kitchen knife and stabbed Kuznetsov, a private-ambulette driver, the sources said. He then took off in his mother’s Lexus.
Police source said that at about 8:15 a.m. he fled the scene after hitting School Safety Agent Adamantia Nikalaydakis, 41, at Avenue S and Ocean Avenue with the Lexus. She was left hospitalized.
Later in the day, Gelman turned up at the home of his ex-girlfriend, Yelena Bulchenko, 20, just three blocks away from his family home on East 24th Street and Avenue Y. He allegedly stormed inside and hacked her mother, Anna, 56, to death, sources said.
Yelena arrived home to find the bloodbath at around 4:20 p.m. She called 911 and ran outside to wait for police.
Expecting help to arrive, she was instead ambushed by Gelman, who allegedly burst from an alley and gutted her with a knife. Sources said that a neighbor tried to stop him, but he was able to get back into the Lexus.
With the body count rising, Gelman tried to make his getaway down East 24th Street. But as he approached Avenue U, his path was blocked by a double-parked Pontiac Bonneville driven by Arthur DiCrescento, 60.
Like a scene from “Grand Theft Auto,” Gelman ditched his Lexus and carjacked DiCrescento, stabbing him three times in the chest and throwing him to the pavement, sources said.
“He had to cut Arty first. Because Arty is 300 pounds, he couldn’t have just dragged him out of the car,” said Barbara Parry, a neighbor of the victim, who suffered non-life-threatening wounds.
After the carjacking, Gelman tore up Ocean Avenue, where he struck an elderly man near Avenue R, sources said. The victim, identified as Steve Tanebaum, 60, was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he later died.
Shortly before 1 a.m., cops believe Gelman struck again on Eastern Parkway near Rockaway Avenue. He first tried to grab a livery cab, stabbing the driver, according to sources. The victim’s condition was not known. Then he turned his sights on a black Nissan Maxima that was parked outside a church. He jumped in the car and forced the driver out by stabbing at him, but then dragged the man down the street.
“He dragged me from the church to the laundry mat,” victim Sheldon Pottinger told The Post. “I had to push myself out of the car. He was stabbing at me. I was trying so hard to hold the knife so he wouldn’t stab me.”
He sped off.
Cops continued to hunt for the knife-wielding mad man throughout the night. At about 8:30 a.m. today they got a report from a 911 caller that he was spotted in Manhattan on southbound No. 1 train that was traveling near 96th Street.
He was later spotted on the uptown No. 3 train where he was eventually busted after stabbing the as yet unnamed victim in the train’s first car.
“It was panic on the train. The doors opened up and everybody was rushed into car number two,” said witness John Bodensiek. “Cops said ‘Move, move move.’”
Yelena Bulchenko was recalled last night by friends a “great person” who only dated Gelman for a month in the past year. He would often crash at her house.
“He became obsessed with her,” said Dima Laz, 19, a friend.
“That guy’s got a bit of a reputation around here, you took one look at him and you thought he was on pills,” said another friend of the victim.
“Maksim is a monster,” said friend Violet Krivolapova, 18. “I can’t believe this happened to such a good girl. She of all people didn’t deserve this.”
The 20-year-old worked as a dental receptionist, according to her Facebook page, which showed a picture of her in a sliver cocktail dress and notes her love of hip-hop. It also showed she was currently dating another man.
On her page he posted an eerie quote from one of her favorite artists, Bob Marley.
“Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for,” she wrote.
Anthony Riggio, a super at the Sheepshead Bay condo where Gelman lived with his stepfather and mom, called the suspect “a street punk.” Riggio also said neighbors were well aware of the hatred between the men.
“It’s no secret that the two of them didn’t get along,” he said. “One time I asked him, ‘What’s your father’s name?’ And he replied ‘A–hole.’
Additional reporting by Todd Venezia, Aaron Short, Erin Calabrese, Lorena Mongelli, Fran Rosario, Sabrina Ford and Candice Amos