Early on a recent Sunday, an alarming incident occurred in a Bronx railway terminal, unfolding mere hours after the implementation of congestion charges that compelled many city dwellers to resort to what’s becoming a progressively unsafe metro system. The relationship between the victim and the assailant, as well as the motive behind the hostile act, remained initially unclear. The middle-aged man, aged 38, fortunately survived the knife attack, having suffered an arm injury at the Mott Haven terminal, at the intersection of Third Avenue and 138th Street. The perpetrator hastily vacated the scene right after the act, which took place on platform for No. 6 express trains a little before the clock struck four in the morning.
After the incident, emergency services promptly arrived to the scene, ensuring the victim was quickly and safely transported to a local medical facility. Despite his ordeal, he was reported to be in a stable condition. This unsettling event serves as another distressing addition to an evident wave of brutal attacks on the metro in New York City. Just days prior, a horrendous incident shocked the public when Debrina Kawam, a 57-year-old resident of Toms River, NJ, tragically lost her life in an arson attack at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station in Brooklyn.
The accused suspect, Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, an undocumented immigrant, is currently detained, facing first-degree murder charges for this harrowing crime. Notably, this is only part of an escalating spate of violence that the subway has witnessed. Kawam’s unnerving demise was followed by a minimum of five severe episodes taking place shortly after. These incidents included an assault on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker who was on his way to his job one Thursday morning at the Pelham Parkway station.
Furthering the disturbing chronicle of violent events, four additional subway commuters were targeted and brutally slashed with a knife over the span of a week. In one such episode, a man in his early fifties was attacked and wounded in his arm at the Myrtle-Wyckoff L station located in Brooklyn. Another incident involved a man nearing his fifties being targeted in his neck at the West 50th Street and Eighth Avenue station located in Manhattan.
Violence spilled over into the new year as well, with two more assaults reported on New Year’s day. One of these incidents involved a young man, barely 30 years old, whose arm was injured following a heated encounter with a fellow passenger at the 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway station in Manhattan. A second equally alarming incident followed soon, with a 31-year-old man being viciously stabbed in his back at the 14th Street station in Manhattan, a scenes unfolding merely 15 minutes after the previous attack. Like many others, he was immediately transported to a local hospital where he was reported to be in a stable condition.
In another startling incident that took place on a Tuesday, Joseph Lynskey, a 45-year-old music programmer, was seemingly singled out randomly and pushed directly in front of a Manhattan No. 1 train. In what can only be described as an extraordinary turn of events, Lynskey managed to miraculously skirt death.
The spike in violent incidents, especially within the confines of the subway, has resulted in a public call to action. In response, the Guardian Angels, New York City’s volunteer-based vigilante group, has felt the need to recommence their patrolling operations for the first time since 2020. Their presence is now being witnessed to an extent that has not been seen since the group’s formation in the late 70s.