Two stabbed to death and one seriously hurt in 'random rampage' in New York, as homeless man arrested
18 November 2024, 20:17
Two men were stabbed to death and a woman seriously injured in a series of apparently random knife attacks in New York on Monday.
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A homeless man has been arrested after the attacks, which took place over a two and a half hour spell in Manhattan on Monday morning local time (mid-afternoon UK time).
Police are not looking for any other suspects.
The attacker did not say a word to the victims during the rampage, and did not steal anything from them.
The nature of the The 51-year-old suspect was in police custody after being found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives he was carrying, authorities said.
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Mayor Eric Adams said: "Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen."
He called the violence "a clear, clear example" of failures in the criminal justice system and elsewhere.
The suspect, apparently homeless, had been sentenced in a criminal case a few months ago, the Democratic mayor said, without giving further details.
Investigators are working to understand what led to the rampage.
"No words exchanged. No property taken. Just attacked, viciously," said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department's chief of detectives.
The first stabbing, on West 19th Street, killed a 26-year-old construction worker who was standing by his work site near the Hudson River a little before 8.30am local time (15.30 UK time).
About two hours later and across the island of Manhattan, a 68-year-old man was attacked while fishing in the East River near East 30th Street.
Both men died, Mr Kenny said. The suspect then apparently travelled north near the riverfront.
Around 10.55am, a 36-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times near the United Nations headquarters on East 42nd Street, Mr Kenny said. She is in hospital in a critical condition.
A passing taxi driver saw the third attack and alerted police on nearby First Avenue and East 46th Street, officials said. An officer soon apprehended the suspect.
