Brooklyn stabbing victim to be laid to rest; suspect in court

EAST NEW YORK, N.Y. (WABC) -- On Wednesday night, less than a mile from where she lost her life, Tanaya Grant Copeland's family and friends gathered to bid a final farewell to the teenager who was stabbed to death in Brooklyn two weeks ago.

The service for Copeland, 18, was held at Bethlehem Baptist Church on Linden Avenue from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. A wake preceded it at 4 p.m. Copeland will be laid to rest at Cypress Hills Cemetery on Thursday.

The nursing student was found by a cab driver stabbed more than 30 times, possibly by the same man who stabbed two children in an elevator a few blocks away two days later. Daniel St. Hubert is already charged in that incident, which left 6-year-old P.J. Avitto dead and 7-year-old Mikayla Capers critically injured. But officially, the case is still unsolved.

Mikayla was released from the hospital Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

"Thank God that Mikayla Capers is alive, is out of the hospital today," de Blasio said to applause. "She misses her dear friend P.J. but her life is a testimony to perseverance and strength. And we are going to be there for her, and her family, as well."

The mayor also revealed that the Boulevard Houses, where the children were stabbed, will be getting 17 surveillance cameras. Work began Wednesday installing them, delayed for a year by bureaucracy de Blasio blames on his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.

"The previous administration dropped the ball in a very big way," said de Blasio. "And I said it openly and I'll say it again: My administration should have done better in our first months as well."

St. Hubert is also suspected in an attack on 53-year-old Kyle Moore on a subway platform in Chelsea. He appeared in a downtown Brooklyn courtroom Wednesday for a conference hearing during which he was indicted on second-degree murder charges in the elevator stabbings.

He asked to make a statement, but the judge said no and sent him back to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

"Your honor, is it all right if I have a moment with the court?" he yelled at the judge during the proceeding. "A short moment."

"No, sir," the judge replied.

St. Hubert was ordered held without bail.