Three victims slashed in string of connected attacks on Manhattan subway
Attacks come one day after a 32-year-old man was found with fatal stab wounds on a 4 train at Union Square Station
Three women were attacked in a string of Manhattan subway slashings in New York on Sunday, 18 June.
Police on 19 June said they believed the same man was responsible for all three attacks, and released Metropolitan Travel Authority (MTA) surveillance footage of the alleged perpetrator.
According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), the man attacked two women at the 86th Street and Lexington Avenue station, before slashing the leg of a third woman while riding a southbound 4 train.
The first attack took place shortly after 4pm on Sunday, when a man wearing a Boston Red Sox cap approached 19-year-old Bianchelli Diplan and slashed her right leg with a sharp object.
“I started up the steps and then I felt something [on] the back of my leg. So I like, hold on to it. And I saw there was blood.” Ms Diplan, who was on her way to buy a Father’s Day cake, told ABC7. “So I turned around I saw him and, like, he just stared at me and I was crying. And he just walked away.”
She reportedly needed 19 stitches and is recovering at home.
The NYPD believes he also attacked a 48-year-old woman at the same station before riding the 4 train to Brooklyn Bridge Station where he slashed a 26-year-old woman’s left leg at around 4.32pm.
The cut was so deep that a tourniquet had to be applied on her leg before she was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to the New York Post.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect jumping the turnstile at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station after slashing his third victim.
During a briefing on 19 June, NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said he was confident the perpetrator’s “identity will be obtained shortly”.
“I’m also confident that he’ll be apprehended shortly,” Mr Kemper said.
Ms Diplan urged commuters to “be aware of your surroundings” while travelling on the subway “because this could happen to anybody”.
Anyone with information about the attacker, who is 5ft 8in and weighs 220 pounds, can send the NYPD a direct message on Twitter or call 800-577-TIPS.
The attacks come one day after the death of a man who was found with fatal stab wounds on a 4 train at Union Square Station.
Police have charged Claude White, a 33-year-old homeless man, with the murder of Tavon Silver. Charges against Mr White also include criminal possession of a weapon.
While Mr White didn’t know the victim, police believe they became embroiled in a dispute which ultimately led to Mr Silver’s death.