Police have apprehended the Queens stabbing spree suspect who was the subject of a day-long citywide manhunt Wednesday.
Sources familiar with the investigation told amNY Wednesday night that the yet-to-be identified perp had been arrested at an undisclosed Queens location. Officers recovered a hunting knife from the suspect’s possession — the same weapon used in at least one of the attacks.
The arrest was the culmination of a day-long search for the serial Queens stabber who attacked two men on Wednesday morning in Springfield Gardens, and was subsequently tied to two other bloody assaults in the borough this month.
Police said the suspect stabbed two men near the intersection of Guy R. Brewer Boulevard and 134th Avenue in Springfield Gardens at around 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 17.
Officers from the 113th Precinct raced to the crime scene and found a 74-year-old man with a stab wound to his abdomen and a 41-year-old man who had been stabbed in the back. EMS transported the two victims to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where they were listed in serious but stable condition.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police have tied the culprit in Wednesday’s attack to two other stabbings in the Springfield Gardens area dating back to Jan. 8. Sources familiar with the investigation say they are also looking into possible links with other recent stabbings in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
In each of the Springfield Gardens stabbings, police said, the perpetrator attacked his victims without provocation, saying nothing to his targets before unleashing violence upon them.
The Jan. 8 assault occurred at the corner of 157th Street and 137th Avenue, about a half-mile away from the site of Wednesday’s attack.
In that incident, police reported, the perpetrator stabbed a 61-year-old man in the back. The victim was rushed to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition.
More than a week later, cops said, he assaulted a 34-year-old woman walking in the vicinity of 158th Street and 134th Avenue at about 12:08 a.m. on Jan. 16.
Police reported that the male suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed her in her torso before running off eastbound on 134th Avenue. EMS rushed the woman to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where she was listed in stable condition.
Then on Wednesday morning, at about 7:29 a.m., the assailant attacked two men near the corner of 134th Avenue and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. He first assaulted a 74-year-old man, stabbing him in the abdomen, then walked further down the block and plunged his weapon into the back of a 41-year-old man before fleeing.
Sources familiar with the investigation said the wounded 74-year-old man managed to walk to a nearby dry cleaners, where he sought help.
Both victims were rushed to Jamaica Hospital and are listed in stable condition.
Soon after the double stabbing, police launched the manhunt, bringing in the NYPD Aviation Unit and officers from surrounding precincts for a massive land-and-air canvass for the perpetrator. That has since grown, police sources said, into a citywide manhunt for the attacker, with every police officer notified of the suspect’s description and major transit hubs being thoroughly examined.
Police described him as a man with a medium complexion, standing about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, who may have worn a dark gray or green jacket, black pants, black shoes and a blue mask.
Additional reporting by Lloyd Mitchell
