Three stabbed, two fatally, by attacker on unprovoked spree across Manhattan

Three people were stabbed in Manhattan Monday morning, two fatally, in what appears to be an unprovoked spree by a lone attacker, police said.
The suspect, taken into custody after the third stabbing, is a 51-year-old resident of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on E. 30th St. near First Ave. who appeared to randomly select his victims, police sources said.
Mayor Adams, at a press conference at the 17th Precinct stationhouse, said he believed the stabbings were a failure of the criminal justice and mental health systems. The suspect has eight prior arrests, police sources told The News, including one case still pending.
“Today we have three innocent New Yorkers going about their lives, the victims of terrible, terrible assaults,” said Adams, adding that the attacks “left us searching for answers how something like this could happen.”
“It is a classic, classic example of the criminal justice system, the mental health system that continues to fail New Yorkers,” he added.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the attacks were random.
“As of right now these attacks seem to be unprovoked,” said Kenny. “He just walked up to them and attacked them with the knives.”
The first victim, a 36-year-old construction worker, was stabbed about 8:20 a.m. on W. 19th St. near Tenth Ave. in Chelsea, police said. The suspect walked up to the construction worker and began stabbing him, cops said.
“He’s standing in front of a construction site where he is employed when without warning he is stabbed in the abdomen,” said Kenny.
The assailant ran off, and was described as a light-skinned man with a beard wearing a gray shirt and dark-colored ski hat.
Medics rushed the construction worker to Bellevue Hospital, where he died at 8:30 a.m., police said. His name was not immediately released.
A woman who lives across the street was outside in her garden when she heard a commotion and then yelling.
“It was just a scream, ‘Call 911!’ And then that got my attention,” the woman, who gave her name as Barbara, told the Daily News.
The victim was motionless as he lay in the street covered by a blanket before first responders arrived, his tan construction boots visible.
“They ran out of the ambulance. They were checking his heartbeat,” she said. “Then they pulled him up and put him in the ambulance.”
The second victim, a 68-year-old man, was fishing in the East River Promenade near the Water Club when he was stabbed at 10:27 a.m. at E. 30th St. and the FDR Drive in Kips Bay, said police. Medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital but doctors could not save him.
Kenny said that victim was stabbed “multiple times in the body.”
Less than a half-hour later, at 10:55 a.m. a 36-year-old woman was stabbed at E. 42nd St. and First Ave. in Murray Hill.
According to police, a passing cab driver saw the assault, mistook it for a robbery, and flagged down a nearby cop.
NYPD Officer Robert Garvey, who had been posted near the United Nations on E. 44th St. and First Ave., caught up with the suspect on E. 46th St. and First Ave. and detained him. The suspect was soon arrested, with charges pending.
Adams said the quick actions of the cabbie and Garvey “saved the lives of other New Yorkers.”
“I just heard a commotion, I stepped outside and heard what people were saying and reacted,” said Garvey at the press conference.
The victim in that stabbing was rushed to NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell Hospital in critical condition.
A trail of blood was visible on E. 42nd St. and First Ave., turning the corner west onto 42nd St. About a quarter of the way down the block the trail ended in a large pool of blood. A blue winter coat and  orange-and-blue winter hat sat on the ground nearby.
Two bloody carving knives were recovered from the suspect, whose clothing was also covered in blood, said Kenny.
In February the suspect was arrested for four small merchant burglaries, two in December and two in January, police told The News. In October he was arrested again and charged with grand larceny.
“There’s a real question as to why he was on the street,” said Adams. “He has some serious mental health issues.”
Police said the suspect was sentenced some months ago in a burglary case.
The suspect also has arrests in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey, including at least two for assault.
A neighbor who lives on the block where the first slaying took place was shocked to hear the victim was the friendly construction worker who he had seen at the work site for the past two weeks.
“He died? Oh wow,” said the neighbor, who gave his name as Orlando and started to cry.
“He was a nice guy,” said Orlando, 55. “Very quiet guy.”
“He was respectful. He would say good morning,” he added. “He looked like a guy who would go to church. Very clean-cut guy.”
Orlando, who has lived on the block for over 20 years, said the fatal stabbing was a disturbing event that reminded him of times past.
“I haven’t heard of anything like this in a long time,” he said.