Man Is Accused of Killing 2 in Random Stabbings in Manhattan

It was just before 8:30 a.m. Monday, the police said, when a man approached a construction worker on West 19th Street in Manhattan and, without warning, stabbed him in the gut and ran off. The victim was soon declared dead.

A violent spree was just starting, the police said.

By 11 a.m., the assailant had fatally stabbed a man who was fishing by the side of the East River, and a 36-year-old woman was fighting for her life after being stabbed repeatedly by the same man near the United Nations.

The rampage ended when a cabdriver who had seen the third stabbing followed the attacker from the crime scene and then alerted a police officer, who took the man into custody. The man’s clothes were spattered with blood, and he had two bloody knives, the police said.

As of Monday evening, the police had not formally charged the man, who they said was the lone suspect in the attacks, or identified him except to say that he was 51 and appeared to be homeless. They also had not identified the victims pending notification of their families.

Although major crime overall is down slightly in New York City so far this year compared with last year and the year before, the random, deadly attacks in broad daylight were likely to have an unsettling effect on public perception of how safe the city is.

Mayor Eric Adams, speaking at a news conference where he was joined by police leaders, said that officials were still reviewing the suspect’s criminal record but that there were “serious questions on why he was on the street.” The mayor also said the man had “serious mental health issues.”