By Zahra Khaliq

Copyright mirror

A man was allegedly stabbed to death and decapitated by his girlfriend’s teenage son – with officers swarming the property and sealing it off, leaving neighbours in shock. Police were alerted to the gruesome attack at a home in West Brighton, Staten Island, New York, shortly after 4:20pm on Monday, and arrived to find the 45-year-old victim with multiple stab wounds to his head and neck, according to the NYPD . The man’s head had been chopped off from his body entirely, according to police sources – and he was pronounced dead at the scene. A 19-year-old – the son of the victim’s girlfriend – was arrested at the scene, but is not believed to have been been charged yet. According to a close friend, the deceased man worked as a refuse collector and was recently forced to take time off work due to severe vision loss. The arrested teenager, who is said to have a long history of mental health issues, reportedly told to his younger sister he “did something bad” when she arrived home from school. Sources say she then walked into the property to find several blood trails leading to the decapitated man in the bathroom with a knife still in his neck. The family has a history of domestic incident reports, according to sources. Close pals of the victim, Louis Ortiz, 47, and Donna Ortiz, 46, were left stunned after hearing the news on TV. “It’s a crime scene. It’s crazy. I can’t even believe I was looking at my friend’s house on the TV screen. And I had to get up and run over here because I didn’t want to believe that it was true until I saw it with my eyes,” Louis told The New York Post. “This didn’t deserve to happen to him. He was just about to retire and live his life as best as he could,” Donna added. “This is tough. I just lost a friend. He was easy-going, man. He was a good person. He did anything for anybody. He’d take his shirt off his back and give it to you if you needed it,” Louis said. He also described the victim, who is yet to be identified, as “the nicest guy in the world ” who loved fishing . The couple had been together almosy six years and “always had their ups and downs with the kids,” he added. He said the teen suspect was “sweet as pie” and would often play video games with Donna’s stepson. “The boy was always going through stuff in school. Mental health issues. The city got to do more with mental health,” he said. Donna agreed, adding: “He’d be alive right now if the city dealt with mental health.” An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.