By: Fern Sidman

In a case that has stunned New York and drawn national attention for its grim details, police say a 95-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with murder in the death of an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor at a Brooklyn nursing home. According to a report that appeared on Wednesday in The New York Daily News, the accused, Galina Smirnova, allegedly attacked fellow resident Nina Kravtsov with a piece of metal torn from a wheelchair, striking her repeatedly during a heated quarrel late Sunday evening.

The incident unfolded inside the Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on West 29th Street, near Surf Avenue in Coney Island, at approximately 10:25 p.m. Police and emergency medical services responded quickly, but the severity of the injuries inflicted on Kravtsov was already clear. She was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she succumbed to her wounds in the early morning hours of Monday at 5:39 a.m.

The New York Daily News reported that Smirnova, who suffers from dementia, allegedly weaponized a jagged piece of metal from a wheelchair during the altercation. Investigators believe she used the makeshift weapon to bludgeon Kravtsov in the head multiple times. While disputes among nursing home residents are not uncommon, the level of violence in this case has shocked even seasoned law enforcement professionals.

Smirnova was transported to South Brooklyn Health for psychiatric evaluation shortly after the attack, as police and prosecutors considered whether her mental state rendered her competent to face charges. Despite her advanced age, she was formally charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon and was awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Wednesday.

As The New York Daily News report pointed out, Smirnova now joins the ranks of some of the oldest individuals in city history to face prosecution for homicide, a chilling reminder of the potential for violence even among the very elderly.

The tragedy resonates even more deeply given the background of the victim. Kravtsov, 89, was a Holocaust survivor who had been living at the Seagate facility since 2020. According to her daughter, Lucy Flom, who resides in Florida, Kravtsov had been receiving long-term care there for several years.

Speaking to CBS News New York and echoed in The New York Daily News report, Flom described the harrowing sequence of events as she received the call that her mother had been injured.

“I thought maybe she fell,” Flom recalled. “And they said, ‘No, no, that’s not it. Your mom is in bad shape.’”

As she rushed to book a flight from Florida to New York, Flom was given one final opportunity to speak to her mother. A staff member held a phone to Kravtsov’s ear at the hospital, allowing Flom to deliver parting words.

“They told me she would not respond but they think she could hear, so I told her the final words. I told her I loved her,” Flom said. By the time she arrived in New York, her mother had already passed away.

The daughter expressed frustration at the lack of clarity about what transpired in her mother’s room. “It’s difficult to say what exactly happened because, as I understand, the door was locked,” she explained. “How did they even know what could’ve happened?”

Officials at the Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center have declined to provide details about the incident, beyond confirming that an investigation is underway. For grieving families, this response has raised more questions than answers.

The New York Daily News report noted that the killing has renewed attention to safety and oversight in New York’s nursing homes, where staff shortages and the challenges of caring for elderly patients with dementia often combine to create volatile situations. Advocates are already calling for a deeper review into how such an attack could occur in what is supposed to be a controlled environment.

Smirnova’s arrest places her among the oldest individuals ever charged with murder in New York City. As The New York Daily News report highlighted, the city has only rarely seen cases involving defendants of such advanced age.

In March 2022, 83-year-old Harvey Marcelin, a transgender woman, was charged with the gruesome murder of 68-year-old Susan Leyden, whose dismembered body was discovered on a Brooklyn street. Decades earlier, in 1990, 95-year-old Navy veteran Oliver Barre was accused of killing his friend, 88-year-old widow Norma Marks, inside an Upper West Side apartment building.

Still, the case of a 95-year-old facing charges for allegedly killing an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor is virtually unprecedented. Legal experts told The New York Daily News that such circumstances pose unique challenges for the justice system, including questions of competency, mental capacity, and the practicality of incarceration for defendants at such advanced ages.

Beyond the courtroom, the murder has sparked a broader conversation about elder care, dementia, and the security of nursing homes in New York City. Advocates told The New York Daily News that the case is a painful reminder of the risks posed when vulnerable seniors with cognitive impairments live in close quarters without adequate supervision.

Dementia, which afflicts an estimated 6.7 million Americans over the age of 65, often manifests in confusion, paranoia, and, in some cases, aggression. When paired with inadequate staffing or lapses in oversight, experts warn, the potential for violence increases.

“It’s heartbreaking on every level,” one elder-care specialist told the paper. “We’re talking about two women in their twilight years, one of them a Holocaust survivor, and yet the system failed to protect them both.”

The Jewish community in Brooklyn, already on edge amid rising antisemitic incidents, reacted with sorrow and disbelief. While police have not suggested that the murder was motivated by antisemitism, the fact that the victim was a Holocaust survivor lends a tragic resonance to the case.

As The New York Daily News reported, community leaders are calling for greater accountability from nursing homes to ensure residents’ safety. “To survive the Holocaust only to be killed in such a brutal manner in your final years is unimaginable,” one local rabbi said.

Smirnova’s case will now proceed through Brooklyn’s criminal courts, though her defense is likely to hinge on her cognitive condition. Legal observers told The New York Daily News that the question of competency to stand trial looms large. If found incompetent, Smirnova could be committed to a psychiatric facility rather than face trial.

Meanwhile, Kravtsov’s daughter Lucy Flom is left to grapple with the sudden and violent loss of her mother. “She survived so much already,” Flom said, “and this is how it ended. I just can’t believe it.”

The killing of 89-year-old Holocaust survivor Nina Kravtsov at the hands of a fellow nursing home resident underscores both the fragility of life and the urgent need for vigilance in elder care. As The New York Daily News has reported, the tragedy is as much about systemic failures as it is about the shocking violence of one elderly resident against another.

For now, Brooklyn mourns a woman who endured humanity’s darkest chapter only to fall victim to a senseless act of violence in her final days. And the city’s justice system faces the extraordinary task of prosecuting one of the oldest murder defendants in its history—a case that raises questions about justice, compassion, and responsibility in equal measure.