NYC has experienced several stabbing attacks in the past month, including one fatal, on homeless people sleeping on benches in the hot weather.
On July 5, in the middle of the night, an attacker stabbed a man lying on a bench on the Hudson River Park walkway near West 11th Street, NYPD officials said. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital in NYC and was pronounced dead.
On July 8 at about 10 p.m., another homeless victim, a 59-year-old man, was lying on a bench at Madison Avenue and East 49th Street, when an attacker stabbed him.
A third man, 28-years-old, was attacked on July 11 at about 3:30 a.m., while sleeping in a playground on the Upper East Side, near East 96th Street and the FDR Drive.
The second and third victims were both transported to the hospital, and are in stable condition.
Police have a suspect in custody and believe the incidents are related. He was caught on surveillance photos, riding a Citi Bike in two of the images, and was wearing black pants and a black sweatshirt. In another image, he was walking and wearing a black tee shirt.
It is believed that the suspect is associated with another deadly stabbing on June 5, inside Hudson River Greenway Park near West Street and Christopher Street, in which a 34-year-old man was found with a stab wound to his torso. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Three months ago, NYC Mayor, Eric Adams, tried to get homeless people off the street by clearing their encampments, and encouraging people to go to shelters.
The effort began in the end of March, and crews have cleared homeless encampments over 1,000 times since the plan was initiated.
Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website or on Twitter @NYPDTips.