At least three people were injured in a subway station stabbing spree inside tourist-heavy Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.
Two elderly men, who were not identified, 65 and 85, were taken to the hospital in critical condition by the fire department after being slashed in the head during the incident, which occurred on Saturday morning.
A third person, 70, was also attacked, the New York Post reported.
Police reportedly fatally shot the 44-year-old man, who allegedly stabbed the victims with a machete, sources told The Post.
The identity of the attacker has not been released by police. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police sources told The Post the man was known to authorities and had several prior arrests.
Three train lines – the 4, 5, and 6 – are currently disrupted and not stopping at the popular station, which is one of the busiest stations in the US, while police conduct an investigation, the MTA said.
A witness told Pix 11 that they saw at least one person using a large knife in the attack on an uptown platform.
At least two were injured in a shooting and stabbing spree inside Grand Central on Saturday morning
A machete was seen on the platform of the subway at Grand Central
Police saw him and drew their guns, yelling at him to drop his weapon, the witness said. Police then shot the man on the platform.
The NYPD are asking the public to ‘please avoid the vicinity of Grand Central’ while they investigate.
Another witness told The Post that they saw paramedics ‘pumping’ the chests of one of the victims.’
‘It’s crazy. You could be on the platform minding your business, and someone had a machete, it’s scary, scary, scary,’ he told the outlet.
The incident comes after Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, said last week that the Big Apple had a gun violence problem after a seven-month-old baby was fatally shot in the head in Brooklyn.
‘We cannot accept it as normal in our city. We cannot grow numb to this pain,’ he said. ‘Today is a devastating reminder of just how much more work there is to be done to combat gun violence across the city.
‘Too many children have never grown up into becoming adults. Too many parents who’ve had to bury those they love most.’
Blood and trash were seen left on the platform after the attack
Police shot the man after he allegedly refused to put down his weapon. The 4, 5, and 6 trains not bypassing the station while police work
Grand Central is one of the busiest terminals in the country
Kaori Patterson-Moore was shot dead while parents Jamari Patterson, 22, and Lianna Moore, 20, and brother, Kaizen, were strolling through Brooklyn on April 1.
The parents had been taking their kids to buy baby supplies when the shooting happened around 1.20pm.
They had originally thought someone had set off fireworks, which had caused her son to hop out of the stroller.
The family fled into a nearby bodega before Moore noticed her daughter’s head was bleeding, surveillance footage obtained by the New York Post showed.
She was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital after her father ran her there.
Despite the two violent incidents, statistics show that crime is down 5.7 percent in NYC.
Just a week before the officer-involved shooting, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the Big Apple had a gun violence problem
Kaori Patterson-Moore, seven months, died last week after she was fatally shot in the head
However, shooting victims are up 2.3 percent and shooting incidents are up 1.4 percent compared to last year, NYPD statistics showed.
Governor Kathy Hochul said she has been briefed on Saturday’s stabbing, calling it a ‘senseless act of violence.’
‘I’m grateful to our brave officers who acted quickly to stop the suspect,’ she wrote on X. ‘We’re working closely with the NYPD as the investigation unfolds.’
Mamdani echoed a similar statement, writing on X: ‘I’m grateful to the NYPD for their quick response and for preventing additional violence.’
The mayor said NYPD will be releasing bodycam footage later after the investigation is concluded.