Fatal East Harlem stabbing victim survived ’06 shooting; suspect charged

An East Harlem father stabbed to death last week survived another murder attempt nearly two decades ago — and police said on Sunday they’ve locked up his alleged killer.

Michael Smith, 47, still had a bullet lodged in his chest from 2006 when he was fatally stabbed in an apartment near E. 132nd St. and Madison Ave. on March 17, his grieving family told the Daily News.

Cops on Tuesday arrested 63-year-old Anthony Jordan, charging him with Smith’s murder. The NYPD announced his arrest five days later, on Sunday.

He remains held without bail on Rikers Island.

A woman saw Jordan kneel on Smith and stab him four times, according to the criminal complaint against the suspect.

Video shows Jordan descend a stairwell, holding a large orange-handled knife in a gloved hand, blood dripping from both the knife and his hand, the complaint alleges.

Smith was just a few blocks away from his aunt’s home in the Lincoln Houses when he was attacked. The man often stayed with his aunt, the grieving woman said.

“He was a loving person,” said his aunt, Dorothy Smith. “I can’t believe my nephew is gone.”

Police believe the killer knew Smith, but cops couldn’t say Sunday why he was killed.

“He was a few blocks away from here on 132nd. He had friends over there. He was visiting them. We really don’t know how and what happened. We still trying to get information ourselves,” said his brother, Jerole Smith. “He’s gone.”

Back on March 24, 2006, Smith was shot several times on E. 128th St. near Lexington Ave., about a quarter-mile away from where he was killed last week. Police arrested 45-year-old Rodney McNeil about six months later for attempted murder.

Smith had an arrest history and public records show he was paroled in June 1997 after serving 14 months in state prison for a Manhattan attempted robbery conviction.

The shooting left him unable to work, his family members said, though they wouldn’t discuss the particulars of what happened.

“He had a heart of gold, he wouldn’t hurt a fly and they murdered him,” said Smith’s cousin, who did not want to be identified. “We’re just trying to grieve.”

Smith had three adult daughters who are struggling to accept the death of their father, according to his aunt.

“Mike was a great guy, it’s a tragedy,” said the man’s longtime friend Jovan James. “He’d give you food, a place to stay and the shirt right off his back.”

His murder is the second this year in the NYPD’s 25th Precinct, which saw seven slayings in all of 2023, according to police statistics.

With Rocco Parascandola