NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Police arrested a man suspected of going on a stabbing spree in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen on Wednesday evening in which the victims were apparently targeted at random.
LISTEN TO WCBS 880
Both victims were stabbed in unprovoked attacks over the course of about 30 minutes.
The first person stabbed was a 28-year-old man who was walking at W. 50th Street and 10th Avenue around 7:20 p.m.
A man with a knife came up to him and stabbed him in the back before fleeing eastbound on W. 50th Street towards Ninth Avenue, police said.
The victim suffered a laceration to his back and was transported by private means to Mount Sinai West for treatment.
A few blocks away around 7:50 p.m., a 27-year-old woman was in front of a building on W. 47th Street, just west of 10th Avenue, when a man approached and plunged a knife into her chest.
The woman suffered a stab wound to her chest and was rushed by private means to Mount Sinai West, where she was listed in stable condition.
The stabber then fled westbound on W. 47th Street towards 11th Avenue.
Both victims told investigators that their attacker did not say anything before stabbing them.
Police canvassed the area and eventually found their suspect at W. 46th Street and Ninth Avenue. He was taken into custody Wednesday night after the 28-year-old victim confirmed he was the attacker, police said.
The suspect, 33-year-old Nickolas Okeefe, was charged with two counts of assault and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
His listed address is a halfway house on W. 48th Street by Hell’s Kitchen Park.
A man who works at a deli in the area told the Daily News that the suspect is mentally ill and has been especially unstable in recent days.
“This week, he was on something,” the worker told the outlet. “There were a lot of odd body movements. He’d start tweaking in the store, but I never figured he’d do something like this.”
Related
Related
Related
