By . Daily Mail Reporter . New York police are looking for a killer who stabbed a six-year-old boy to death and left a seven-year-old girl in critical condition in Brooklyn on Sunday night. The children were in an elevator at an apartment block in Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood and heading out for ice cream when they were attacked at 5.50 pm on Sunday, police said. The madman, who is believed to be heavyset and in his 20s, stabbed the young friends in their torsos after telling them to 'shut up', a police source told the New York Daily News. The body of the little boy, Prince Joshua Avitto - known as 'P.J.' to his family - was found in the elevator in the Boulevard housing development on Schenck Avenue near Stanley Avenue. Scroll down for video . Tragic: 7-year-olds Prince Joshua Avitto (left) and Mikayla Capers (right) were stabbed Sunday by an unknown assailant. Avitto died from his injuries. Capers is in critical condition . Mikayla Capers, the seven-year-old girl in critical condition, was found in front of a neighboring building after she apparently stumbled from the elevator. The suspect is described as an African-American man who ran off after the attack, police sources told the Daily News. A neighbor who saw the children after the attack says Capers was conscious, but that she was in rough shape. 'The girl was up and talking, but she didn’t look too good,' neighbor Kevin Velez, 41, told the New York Post. 'This is horrendous. The . police need to catch this animal. I saw the . ambulance workers cart out [the boy]. He was lifeless, just lifeless. I . can’t get the image out of my head.' Loss: 'P.J.' was just two weeks away from his seventh birthday, his devastated family said . The children's relatives are struggled to comprehend the senseless crime. 'He . took my pride and joy away,' P.J.'s father, Nicholas Avitto, told the . New York Daily News, as he revealed his heartbreak that he had not . kissed his son that day. Mother of seven-year-old victim Mikayla Capers . 'I'm . devastated. I'm beyond comprehension. I'm trying to understand how God . works. My son is gone. That was the light of my life.' His mother told the New York Post that her son was just 16 days away from turning seven. 'They done killed my baby!' she said outside Brookdale Hospital. Mikayla's mother, Sherina Capers, 21, said she couldn't understand how someone could attack two young children. 'This don’t make no sense,' she said. 'They went to go get an icy and they never made it downstairs.' Crime scene: Avitto's body was found in the elevator inside this apartment building, while Capers was found in front of a neighboring building . A man who identified himself as Capers' uncle told the paper that the community is up in arms over the stabbings and went on to say 'this violence has to stop' in the crime-plagued neighborhood. 'I’m shaking. I have no idea who could have been out there doing this,' 33-year-old Lemar King said. 'They are just little kids. They never did anything to anybody.' The attack came just two days after 18-year-old Long Island University freshman Tayana Copeland died after she was stabbed 32 times in the chest nearby, sources said. Police said they cannot rule out a connection between the two attacks and they are now reviewing surveillance footage.
The body of the boy, Prince Joshua Avitto, was found in an elevator in a Brooklyn apartment building .
7-year-old Mikayla Capers was found in front of a neighboring building and is in critical condition .
Police are searching for the suspect and reviewing surveillance footage .
The suspect is described as a heavyset African-American man in his 20s .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . New York police are looking for a killer who stabbed a six-year-old boy to death and left a seven-year-old girl in critical condition in Brooklyn on Sunday night. The children were in an elevator at an apartment block in Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood and heading out for ice cream when they were attacked at 5.50 pm on Sunday, police said. The madman, who is believed to be heavyset and in his 20s, stabbed the young friends in their torsos after telling them to 'shut up', a police source told the New York Daily News. The body of the little boy, Prince Joshua Avitto - known as 'P.J.' to his family - was found in the elevator in the Boulevard housing development on Schenck Avenue near Stanley Avenue. Scroll down for video . Tragic: 7-year-olds Prince Joshua Avitto (left) and Mikayla Capers (right) were stabbed Sunday by an unknown assailant. Avitto died from his injuries. Capers is in critical condition . Mikayla Capers, the seven-year-old girl in critical condition, was found in front of a neighboring building after she apparently stumbled from the elevator. The suspect is described as an African-American man who ran off after the attack, police sources told the Daily News. A neighbor who saw the children after the attack says Capers was conscious, but that she was in rough shape. 'The girl was up and talking, but she didn’t look too good,' neighbor Kevin Velez, 41, told the New York Post. 'This is horrendous. The . police need to catch this animal. I saw the . ambulance workers cart out [the boy]. He was lifeless, just lifeless. I . can’t get the image out of my head.' Loss: 'P.J.' was just two weeks away from his seventh birthday, his devastated family said . The children's relatives are struggled to comprehend the senseless crime. 'He . took my pride and joy away,' P.J.'s father, Nicholas Avitto, told the . New York Daily News, as he revealed his heartbreak that he had not . kissed his son that day. Mother of seven-year-old victim Mikayla Capers . 'I'm . devastated. I'm beyond comprehension. I'm trying to understand how God . works. My son is gone. That was the light of my life.' His mother told the New York Post that her son was just 16 days away from turning seven. 'They done killed my baby!' she said outside Brookdale Hospital. Mikayla's mother, Sherina Capers, 21, said she couldn't understand how someone could attack two young children. 'This don’t make no sense,' she said. 'They went to go get an icy and they never made it downstairs.' Crime scene: Avitto's body was found in the elevator inside this apartment building, while Capers was found in front of a neighboring building . A man who identified himself as Capers' uncle told the paper that the community is up in arms over the stabbings and went on to say 'this violence has to stop' in the crime-plagued neighborhood. 'I’m shaking. I have no idea who could have been out there doing this,' 33-year-old Lemar King said. 'They are just little kids. They never did anything to anybody.' The attack came just two days after 18-year-old Long Island University freshman Tayana Copeland died after she was stabbed 32 times in the chest nearby, sources said. Police said they cannot rule out a connection between the two attacks and they are now reviewing surveillance footage.
little boy, Prince Joshua Avitto - known as injuries. Capers is in critical condition . stumbled from the elevator. The suspect is described as an African-American man who ran off elevator inside this apartment building, while Capers was found in front of a neighboring surveillance footage.