Italian Tourist Slashed in Murray Hill, Suspect Still At Large
Police said that an unknown assailant randomly slashed a 42 year-old man, in the vicinity of 237 Madison Avenue, on Nov. 23. It’s the third knife attack that has occurred in Manhattan over the past week.
A tourist in town from Italy was slashed across his right hand in Murray Hill on Nov. 23, the NYPD said. The incident appeared to be unprovoked and random. An unidentified suspect, who was wearing a jean jacket and black pants at the time of the attack, remains at large.
The 42-year-old male tourist was walking near 237 Madison Avenue when the suspect, who bystanders believe is a woman, approached him and swung a knife at him. Police say that the perpetrator proceeded to flee north. The man was treated at the scene by EMS, and is apparently in good condition.
Omar, a man who works in the area, told the NY Post that he had witnessed the reported assault: “She just turned around and slashed him. It was a small knife, maybe a box cutter. She got it out of her jacket pocket. She went toward his face, he put his hand up. I saw her knife him in the hand. She put the knife back into her jacket pocket.”
Omar added that the victim went to find a police officer, while the suspect reportedly walked away in a casual manner.
The assault in Murray Hill comes hot on the heels of another slashing of a tourist, a 55 year-old Danish man, on the Upper West Side. In that incident, the victim–reportedly a former professional soccer player–was strolling with two friends near 114 W. 86th St at around 10:20 a.m., on Nov. 20 when he was approached from behind by a man and stabbed from his right ear to his neck.
The perpetrator then fled in the opposite direction, but not before reportedly turning around and yelling “F**k you” at the victim and his friends. A super of a nearby building helped the injured tourist apply pressure to his neck wound with a towel.
Police later arrested Joshua Zinberg, 25, in connection with the attack. He was turned in by his mother, after she saw him on television, and hit with charges including attempted murder. His bail was set at $150,000 cash or $450,000 cash and bond.
In turn, this follows a bloody stabbing spree on Nov. 18–in Chelsea, Tudor City, and Kips Bay–that left two men and one woman dead, which were reportedly perpetrated by one suspect. Police arrested Ramon Rivera, a homeless man said to be suffering from severe mental illness, shortly after he allegedly attacked his third victim on First Ave. He’s been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, and was ordered held without bail.