MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) – Multiple people were slashed unprovoked in the West Village on Thursday morning, the NYPD said.
Two people were slashed with scissors around 9:34 a.m. at Christopher and Hudson streets, police said. A man was slashed to the neck and refused medical attention, police sources said.
At a nearby location, a 24-year-old man was also slashed in the arm and transported to a local hospital, sources said. He was believed to be in stable condition.
Jung Yang, who owns a deli at Hudson and Bleecker streets near where one of the slashings happened, said the victim never saw it coming.
“He was sitting down on the tree eating a sandwich and then he came and slashed. The guy was surprised and screaming,” Yang said.
A few hours later at 10:44 a.m., police responded to a call of a reported stabbing on West 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue, sources said. There were no reported injuries, but a man who was harassing people and acting erratically was taken into police custody, the sources said.
The 48-year-old suspect was identified in the two earlier slashings in the West Village, police sources said. Charges are expected to be filed, sources said.
The suspect has a history of mental illness, according to police. It’s unclear why he allegedly started slashing people.
