New York City knife rampage leaves 2 dead, 1 critically wounded

A man stabbed three people across a swathe of Manhattan on Monday morning, killing two and critically wounding the third without uttering a word to his victims, officials said.

The 51-year-old suspect was in police custody after being found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives he was carrying, authorities said. The suspect’s and victims’ names were not immediately released.

Investigators were working to understand what propelled the rampage, which happened within two-and-a-half hours.

“No words exchanged. No property taken. Just attacked, viciously,” said Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives. “He just walked up to them and began to attack them with the knives.”

The first stabbing, on West 19th Street, killed a 36-year-old construction worker who was standing by his work site near the Hudson River a little before 8:30am.