On Christmas morning, two teenage girls, both tourists from South America, were stabbed by a 36-year-old man with a criminal record while they were eating in New York's Grand Central Terminal with their parents.
According to the local network WABC, the two girls, ages 14 and 16, suffered the attack at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
According to local media, such as ABC Color, the two young women are of Paraguayan nationality.
Police sources stated that the man, before the attack, shouted, “I want all the white people dead.”
🚨 | Dos jóvenes turistas fueron apuñaladas en la Grand Central Terminal de Nueva York por un hombre de 36 años.
El sospechoso, identificado como Steven Hutcherson, del Bronx, supuestamente exclamó: "Quiero que todos los blancos mueran". pic.twitter.com/1tuGehtKu8
— VOZ (@VozMediaUSA) December 26, 2023
The 16-year-old girl was stabbed in the back, and the attack caused a lung injury. The 14-year-old girl suffered a stab wound to the thigh. Both were taken to Bellevue Hospital where it was determined that the injuries were not life-threatening.
The suspect, Steven Hutcherson, 36, of the Bronx, got into a verbal dispute with the Tartinery Cafe staff, who told him he could not sit in the restaurant area.
“Hutcherson allegedly made statements about the victims being permitted to sit there. Authorities say he then pulled out a knife and stabbed the two girls,” WABC reported.
Officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Police Department responded to the attack. Hutcherson surrendered almost immediately, dropping the knife to the ground.
The man was charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child and is also being investigated for possible hate crime charges for what he screamed before committing the attack against the young women.
According to the report, the suspect had had 17 previous arrests, and both the MTA and the NYPD have him registered as a mentally disturbed person who had been arrested twice in the last six months.
The city's mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, reacted to the tragic event by saying that subway security has improved, but that these high-profile attacks create a feeling of insecurity throughout New York.
“Any time you have incidents in these high profile locations, it sends the feeling of people don't feel safe, that's why we have to make sure we zero in, make the arrests as soon as possible and make sure we get those repeat offenders off the streets,” said the mayor.
