Suspect wanted in string of New York City stabbings targeting homeless victims
WEST VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Police are searching for a suspect wanted in a string of stabbings targeting homeless victims in Manhattan.
The suspect was initially wanted for a deadly stabbing on June 5, inside Hudson River Greenway Park near West Street and Christopher Street, where a 34-year-old man was found with a stab wound to his torso.
The victim was believed to be sleeping at the time of the stabbing. He was taken to NYC Health & Hospitals/Bellevue where he was pronounced dead.
Police now say the same suspect is wanted for two additional stabbings in Manhattan. They believe the suspect is targeting homeless victims, all who were asleep prior to the attack.
The second incident happened on Friday around 10 p.m. at Madison Avenue and East 49th Street in Midtown, where a 59-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach while he was sleeping.
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He was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in stable condition.
The latest incident happened on Monday around 3:30 a.m. inside Stanley Isaac Playground on the Upper East Side, where a 28-year-old man was also stabbed in the stomach while sleeping.
He was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in stable condition.
That man said he actually recognized the suspect, leading detectives to investigate whether their stabber is also homeless. The victim told them he knows the man by the name "Delly."
"On 50th Street they have the church and they give the homeless people food and most of them are sleeping there on the side of the church and the train station and this area has a lot of homeless people," one resident said.
Police say they have video and photos of the same suspect at all three locations near the times of the stabbings.
There was shock Monday night near one of the stabbings, that someone is preying on the city's most vulnerable.
"They need more help than all of us, so to target them is sad," one resident said.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Authorities are urging anyone with information in regard to these incidents to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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