Pregnant Woman Stabbed 14 Times Over $2 Pizza Tip

Police say Florida delivery woman returned to motel to attack customer after shift was over
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 27, 2024 6:17 AM CST
Cops: Pizza Delivery Woman Stabbed Customer Over $2 Tip
Brianna Alvelo.   (Osceola County Jail)

A pizza delivery woman in yes, Florida, who was upset over a $2 tip on a $33 pizza returned after her shift was over to take revenge, police say. Brianna Alvelo, 22, faces charges including attempted murder for allegedly stabbing the pregnant customer 14 times, CBS News reports. Police say the woman, Melinda Irizarry, was attacked in front of her 5-year-old daughter Sunday night at a motel in Kissimmee, south of Orlando.

  • Investigators say that when Irizarry tried to pay for the pizza with a $50 bill and asked for change, Alvelo told her that "they don't provide change," KPMG reports. Irizarry told investigators that she looked for smaller bills and Alvelo "rolled her eyes and walked away without saying anything" after receiving the $2 tip.

  • Irizarry told investigators that a man and a woman dressed in black knocked loudly on the motel room door later that night and forced their way in when she opened the door, NBC News reports. She said the man, armed with a handgun, forced her boyfriend into the bathroom. Irizarry said the woman, believed to be Alvelo, searched her purse and broke her daughter's Nintendo Switch. She said that when she tried to shield her daughter and pick up her phone, the woman smashed her phone and stabbed her multiple times with a pocketknife.
  • At that point, Irizarry said, the armed man yelled that it was time to go and the attack ended.
  • Authorities say Irizarry was hospitalized with stab wounds to her chest, arms, leg, and abdomen and had surgery for a ruptured lung, CBS News reports. At the hospital, Irizarry learned that she was a few weeks pregnant. In a Dec. 25 Facebook post. the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said she was in stable condition.

  • The sheriff's office said Alvelo, a Marco's Pizza employee, was arrested on suspicion of offenses including attempted murder, home invasion with a firearm, and kidnapping.
  • Irizarry tells Fox 35 that the attack was "pretty traumatic." "My daughter seeing that whole thing, it's pretty heartbreaking to me," she says. Police are still trying to identify the male suspect. "I want them to get him as soon as possible because they're monsters," Irizarry says. "They should not be out in the street."
(More Florida stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X