Two dead, one fighting for life in New York stabbing spree

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 weren’t immediately released.

“Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference. He called the violence “a clear, clear example” of failures in the criminal justice system and elsewhere.

The suspect, apparently homeless, had been sentenced in a criminal case a few months ago, the Democratic mayor said, without giving further details.

The attacks happened within two and a half hours, said Joseph Kenny, police chief of detectives.

The first, on West 19th Street, killed a construction worker who was standing by his work site near the Hudson River a little before 8.30am local time (12.30am Tuesday AEDT).

About two hours later and across the island of Manhattan, a man was attacked while fishing in the East River near East 30th Street.

Both men died, Kenny said.

The suspect then apparently travelled north near the riverfront. Around 10.55am (3.55am Tuesday AEDT), a woman was stabbed multiple times near the United Nations headquarters on East 42nd Street, Kenny said. She is hospitalised in a critical condition.

A passing cab driver saw the third attack and alerted a police officer, officials said.