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They were two excited children hurrying out of an apartment block to get ice creams. But Prince Joshua Avitto - whose seventh birthday was just a couple of weeks away - and seven-year-old Mikayla Capers, never made it downstairs.

For the playmates had stepped into a lift with a madman who - somewhere between the first and fourth floors of Boulevard Houses, East New York - pulled out a knife and stabbed the children in their torsos numerous times, according to police.

When the doors to the lift opened, brave Mikayla somehow managed to escape the bloodbath and crawl out to the first floor before collapsing. But Prince Joshua, known to family and friends as PJ, remained motionless in the elevator.

Both children were rushed to Brookdale University Hospital on Sunday evening but PJ was pronounced dead. Mikayla was later transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital where she underwent surgery. She remains in a critical condition.

Authorities are still hunting the attacker, described as heavyset and thought to be in his 20s, who ran off through the housing project after the incident before tossing the murder weapon which was later found by cops.

NBC news reported that PJ's distraught mother was heard screaming: "They done killed my baby. His birthday was in 16 days. Lord, they done killed my baby!"

The President of the Boulevard Houses Tenant Association, Inez Rodriguez, said: "They were just coming outside to get some ice cream and ices. This is the worst thing that I've ever seen in this neighbourhood."

The horrific attack comes two days after an 18-year-old was stabbed to death nearby on Friday evening. She was knifed 32 times as she made her way to a friends house.

Police have not ruled out a connection between the two incidents.