NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The NYPD confirmed that they have a person of interest in custody in connection with a series of unprovoked stabbing in Queens, including three incidents on Wednesday morning. Police have flooded the transit systems and stabbing areas with officers in the wake of the attacks.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny posted on social media that the attacks were in the Rochdale Village and Springfield Gardens area.
“He may also be traveling via transit,” Kenny wrote.
In a follow-up post, the chief wrote that the NYPD needs "immediate help" from the public in finding the suspect, who he said "MUST be stopped."
In a press conference late Wednesday afternoon, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell commented on the strong police response to the attacks.
“We want to flood transit with a level three mobilization, each borough supplied cops, we surged the system, platforms and moving trains, giving out the pictures, the presence. That is going to remain 24/7 until this person is apprehended,” Chell said.
Kenny gave insight into the stabbings at the briefing, noting that the suspect, who uses a hunting knife, seems to strike completely at random.
“In some of the instances he’s walking behind them for quite a distance, in other instances he’s just coming across them, and then stabbing them. Very random, not a word is said, totally unprovoked,” Kenny said.
The first stabbing linked to the spree was in Springfield Gardens on Jan. 8. A 61-year-old man was at 157th Street and 137th Avenue when he was attacked by a man who stabbed him in the lower back, laughed and ran away, police said. The man was taken to the hospital, and was said to be stable.
Then this week, a 34-year-old woman was stabbed just after midnight Tuesday morning as she walked home near 158th Street and 134th Avenue in Springfield Gardens, police said.
A man approached her from behind with a knife and stabbed her in the right side of her torso before fleeing eastbound on 134th Avenue, according to police. She was transported to an area hospital in stable condition.
The man appeared to be talking to himself, and when police conducted a video canvas of the area following the incident, they found video of the suspect holding a hunting knife and stabbing a bodega window.
Two more stabbings believed to be linked to the spree happened within minutes of each other Wednesday morning at 161st Street and 134th Avenue in Springfield Gardens—just a few blocks from where the woman was stabbed a day earlier.
A 74-year-old man was stabbed unprovoked at the location shortly before 7:30 a.m. Just six minutes later and right around the corner, a 41-year-old man was also stabbed unprovoked.
The older man was stabbed in the back, while the 41-year-old was stabbed in the abdomen, according to police. Both of the victims were transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where they were listed in stable condition.
The suspect fled the scene in an unknown direction while wearing a black jacket, green hoodie, black pants, black Adidas sneakers and a grey winter mask.
A third stabbing on Wednesday morning occurred 25 minutes later on Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue, police said.
The 36-year-old male victim was riding an MTA bus when he became involved in a verbal dispute with the suspect over a bus seat. Both men exited the bus at Parsons Avenue, and the perpetrator stabbed him one time.
Because the incidents happened in such close proximity, officers are focusing efforts in the area the attacks occurred.
“We feel that he is going to return to that area, and that’s why we’re saturating it with the posters and with police officers,” Kenny said.
Police are also investigating the possibility that a stabbing around 9:45 a.m.
Wednesday on a J train at the Myrtle Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant is connected to the case. A 28-year-old man was stabbed at the station and transported to NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull to treat injuries that are not expected to be life-threatening.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.