The New York City Police Department is deploying an additional 500 officers to patrol the city’s subway system after four stabbings in less than 24 hours that left two people dead.
The decision came after four separate incidents in which victims were “cut with a sharp object,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a news conference Saturday afternoon.
“The bottom line that the public should know is this: They can expect to see a very large footprint of uniformed officers deployed throughout New York City whether they go onto a train or whether they go onto a platform,” Shea said.
Shea said the four attacks occurred on the A line, a subway line that runs between northern Manhattan and Queens.
Besides the two deaths, two other victims are recovering from their injuries. All four victims were homeless and the attacks appear to be unprovoked, said Deputy Chief Brian McGee, the commanding officer of the Manhattan North detective bureau.
The attacks began on Friday morning when a 67-year old man was stabbed by an unknown man inside the 181 Street station in upper Manhattan and later treated at a nearby hospital, NYPD Chief of Transit Kathleen O’Reilly told reporters.
An adult male was found dead with “stab wounds to his neck and torso” on the A-train at the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue train station in Queens on Friday around 11:30 p.m., O’Reilly said.
Approximately two hours later on Saturday, an unconscious 44-year-old woman was found inside a train car at the Inwood 207 Street station in upper Manhattan with “multiple stab wounds,” according to O’Reilly. The woman was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, O’Reilly said.
Less than 20 minutes after that incident, police officers responded to calls about a 43-year-old man who was stabbed at the 181 Street station. He told officers he was stabbed by an unknown man and was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery, according to McGee.
“Three of these incidents appear to be connected and the Detective Bureau is looking into the possibility that all four could have been committed by one individual,” O’Reilly said.
The NYPD will publish an image of the unknown perpetrator as soon as possible, McGee said. Officials are asking anyone who has any information related to the four stabbing incidents to contact police.
“We don’t have much at all on the perpetrator at this point,” McGee said.
