Police hunt random stabber
Same stranger is eyed in two subway attacks less than a day apart
Cops are hunting a mumbling maniac they believe slashed and stabbed two Queens subway riders in back-to-back unprovoked attacks along the 7 line, police sources said Saturday.
The suspect — who was speaking incoherently during the first attack and then was heard “speaking in a foreign language” in the second — is believed to have attacked two men less than 24 hours apart.
Detectives were looking into the possibility that the two cases are linked, a police source said.
The first attack occurred at about 8:45 a.m. Friday on a Manhattan-bound 7 train as it idled at the Queensboro Plaza station, cops said.
The victim, 26, told police he was sitting on the train when a stranger dropped a knife on the floor in front of him as he walked past. The man picked up
the knife, mumbled something and slashed the victim in the
face and arm before running off. EMS took the victim to an
area hospital. The victim had never seen his attacker before and didn’t have any interaction with him before the attack, police said.
On Saturday, a 55-year-old man was attacked as he sat on a bench waiting for the train at the 74th St.-Broadway station at about 8:45 a.m., authorities said.
The victim was minding his own business when a man walked up, flashed a kitchen knife and jammed it into his neck, cops said.
He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was expected to survive.
No arrests had been made. The attacks come as police continue to fight an 11% jump in assaults on the city’s rails.
Cops were investigating 260 assaults on trains and in the stations — 27 more than this time last year.
Anyone with information regarding these attacks is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.