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Dante Viggiano, 20-Year-Old Suspect In Fatal Staten Island Stabbing, Arraigned

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Prosecutors say a 20-year-old man accused of breaking into a home then stabbing a man to death and injuring his wife has been charged with murder.

Dante Viggiano was arraigned from his hospital bed Tuesday where he is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

He has been charged with murder, attempted murder, burglary, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal mischief and false personation, police announced Monday night.

His lawyer, Eric Nelson, says the case is still under investigation and had no comment Wednesday.

Viggiano is accused of burglarizing a Staten Island home last weekend.

Authorities say the couple came home from a birthday party while he was inside and he attacked them. Sixty-seven-year-old Peter Gialluisi died.

Viggiano stabbed Peter, a stroke victim who used a walker to get around, and his wife multiple times with a kitchen knife, police said.

"He couldn't even go up the steps," neighbor Teresa Parenti told CBS 2's Tony Aiello of Peter Gialluisi. "He was on oxygen. He couldn't breathe well. He had a lot of health issues."

Peter was stabbed in the face and hand. He died later at Staten Island University Hospital South.

Vincenza, 66, suffered many cuts fighting back until the attacker fled. She is hospitalized in stable condition.

Authorities say Viggiano went to the home twice before and tried to see Gialluisi but his wife wouldn't let him inside.

She filed a harassment complaint, but didn't know who the man was at the time.

David Didia witnessed the immediate aftermath of the attack.

"The lady ran out of the house full of blood, soaked in blood, ran up the stairs to my daughter's house," he said.

The incident left many in the neighborhood shaken.

"If you're in there robbing a house and elderly people come home, just leave, run away, knock them over. It was brutal," one woman said. "It just doesn't make sense to me."

Viggiano has several arrests on his record, including a burglary charge just a few weeks ago, CBS 2 reported.

Neighbors say he has a history of mental problems, but he had never been violent before.

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