Suspect in custody after New York City stabbing spree leaves 2 men dead, woman with critical wounds: police

A knife-wielding suspect with multiple past arrests killed two men and left a woman fighting for her life Monday following the unprovoked attacks in New York City, officials said.

The alleged attacker, Ramon Rivera, is a 51-year-old homeless man with eight arrests. He was caught when a good Samaritan cab driver alerted authorities, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said. 

"Today, we have three innocent New Yorkers, just going about their lives, who were the victim of a terrible, terrible assault," he said.

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Investigators don't have any other suspects, Mayor Eric Adams said in a news briefing. 

The stabbing spree began around 8:20 a.m., when a 36-year-old man was standing in front of a construction site where he was working on 19th Street and was stabbed in the stomach, Kenny said. 

The suspect fled, and the victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

Around two hours later on 30th Street near the FDR Drive on the East River, a 68-year-old man who was fishing was stabbed multiple times through his body, Kenny said. The victim also died at the same hospital. 

A half-hour later, a woman, 36, was stabbed multiple times on East 42nd Street and First Avenue near the United Nations building.

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She was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition. 

"As of right now, these attacks seemed to be unprovoked," Kenny said. "That he just walked up to them and began to attack them with the knives."

A short time after the third attack, a witness near 46th Street told police that a possible robbery suspect was walking in the area. The witness was a cab driver who saw the third attack, believing it to be a robbery instead of a stabbing, authorities said. 

Rivera was taken into police custody. He was found with large kitchen knives covered in blood, police said. His clothing was also covered in blood, said police. 

"I just heard a commotion. Stepped outside and heard what people were saying and reacted," the officer who took the suspect into custody told reporters.  

The suspect was taken to a police precinct and questioned. Adams said Monday's attacks were a "clear, clear example of the criminal justice system, mental health system that continues to fail New Yorkers."