What you should know
- Two people died after being stabbed in a New York City subway on Friday night, and according to authorities the incidents could be related to each other. Likewise, the police reported on Saturday about two other stabbings, in the last 24 hours, in this case the victims survived.
- All of the stabbings occurred on A line trains, police officers say, and the two dead were found at opposite ends of the track in Manhattan and Queens two hours apart.
- the commissioner ordered an additional 500 police officers to patrol the transit system, both inside the stations and outside.
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NEW YORK – Two people died after being stabbed in a New York City subway on Friday night, and authorities say the incidents may be related to each other. Likewise, the police reported on Saturday about two other stabbings, in the last 24 hours, in this case the victims survived.
All of the stabbings occurred on A line trains, police officers say, and the two dead were found at opposite ends of the track in Manhattan and Queens two hours apart.
Investigating officials believe that at least three of the four stabbings throughout the city’s metro system, which were reported as of Friday morning, are related. The fourth case is still under investigation, Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a briefing on Saturday afternoon.
Effective immediately, the commissioner ordered an additional 500 police officers to patrol the transit system, both inside the stations and outside.
The first victim was reported to police around 11:30 pm Friday in Far Rockaway. Officers responding to the scene found a man with stab wounds to the neck and chest inside a wagon at the station Mott Avenue Y Beach 22nd Street.
Two hours later, at the other end of line A, police say they found a 44-year-old woman, around 1:20 a.m., at the station. West 207th Street Y Broadway. Authorities responded to the 9-1-1 call and found the woman unconscious under a subway bench. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The interim president of the New York City Transit, Sarah Feinberg, and the president of TWU Local 100Tony Utano issued a joint statement on Saturday morning calling for an increase in police presence in the subway.
“The recent horrific attacks on the subway system are scandalous and unacceptable. Every customer, and every one of our brave and heroic transit workers deserves a safe transit system,” the statement read. “We have been asking the city to send more police into the system and do more to help those who desperately need mental health assistance. Now is the time to act.”
Crime overall has declined, according to the MTA and New York City Police, but last year saw an increase in serious crime despite a 70 percent drop in passenger numbers amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The deaths of two people aboard subway cars Friday night and early Saturday are the latest in a series of violence in the subway system.
Police said a man was stabbed in the stomach in an unprovoked attack Thursday night on the 1 train platform in Christopher Street. Earlier on the same day, the uniformed officer noted that someone pushed a 72-year-old man to the ground while waiting for the 7 train at the station 5th Y West 42nd Street.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday addressed the rise in violent crime, saying the subway is much safer now compared to how things were not so long ago.
“We always have more to do … and that is why the NYPD has added additional staff to the subway,” de Blasio said.
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