On Monday morning, a man went on a shocking spree in Manhattan, fatally stabbing three individuals in what seemed like random attacks.
Officials reported that the 51-year-old suspect didn’t say a word to any of his victims during the incidents. He was taken into custody after police found him with blood on his clothes and two kitchen knives in his possession.
The names of both the suspect and the victims haven’t been released yet.
Mayor Eric Adams expressed the community’s confusion at a news conference, stating that these unprovoked attacks leave us wondering how such violence could occur.
Investigators are trying to figure out what triggered this rampage, which unfolded over just two and a half hours without any dialogue or robbery involved—just pure aggression.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny described how the suspect approached each victim and attacked them without warning.
The first victim was a 36-year-old construction worker near his job site by the Hudson River just before 8:30 a.m. About two hours later, across Manhattan, a 68-year-old man was stabbed while fishing in the East River close to East 30th Street; both men succumbed to their injuries shortly after being attacked.
The suspect then moved north along the riverfront and around 10:55 a.m., he stabbed a 36-year-old woman multiple times near United Nations headquarters on East 42nd Street; she later died at the hospital.
A cab driver witnessed this last attack and quickly notified nearby police officers who apprehended the suspect shortly after.
This violent incident occurred in New York City, where crime has become an urgent topic since pandemic-related lockdowns sparked chaos in urban areas.
Although homicides have decreased by about 14% over two years, serious assaults have risen by roughly 12%, according to police data.
Recent public stabbings have raised alarms—just weeks ago there was one at Coney Island subway station that turned deadly. Mayor Adams pointed out that Monday’s violence highlights significant failures within our criminal justice system among other issues.
The man arrested for this rampage is reportedly homeless and had faced sentencing for another crime just months earlier; he was also arrested last month for grand larceny.
This incident echoes past events as well—three years ago there were several stabbings along a subway line that resulted in two deaths and additional injuries within hours.
Back in 2019, four people sleeping on sidewalks in Chinatown were brutally attacked one Saturday morning, leading to fatalities for all but one of them who survived with serious injuries.