A man has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbings of three people in random attacks in Manhattan, police said Tuesday.
Ramon Rivera51, was arrested after blood was found on his clothes and on two kitchen knives, authorities said. On Tuesday he was awaiting trial. A message was left with an attorney who represented him in a previous case seeking comment.
“Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers as to how something like this could happen,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Investigators were working to understand what sparked the attack, which occurred within two and a half hours on Monday.
“There was no exchange of words, nor did they take anything.. They just viciously attacked them,” said Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York Police Department. “He just walked up to them and started attacking them with the knives.”
The bloodshed occurred in a large city where, as in others, the crime has occupied a prominent place in political discourse and everyday concerns in the years since pandemic lockdowns emptied the streets and sparked riots. Murders in New York City so far in 2024 have decreased 14% in two yearsbut the Serious assaults have increased by around 12%, according to police statistics.
Some recent stabbings in public places have drawn attention, including a fatal attack at the Coney Island subway station just a few weeks ago.
Adams, a Democrat, called Monday’s violence “a clear, clear example” of the failures in the criminal justice system and elsewhere.
Rivera was arrested in eight occasions in New York City for the past year, facing seven serious charges and one minoraccording to official records. His criminal history also includes arrests in Ohio and Florida.
On October 17, Rivera was released after serving time on robbery and assault charges, according to Department of Corrections records. That same day, just hours after his release, he was charged with grand theft for stealing property from a store in Manhattan. At the time of the stabbings that occurred on Monday, Rivera was out on bail in this still open case, the media commented. 4 New York.
His criminal history is not limited to New York. In January, Rivera was arrested three times in Hudson County, New Jerseyand faced formal charges by a grand jury. The allegations included criminal mischief, theft and burglary, court documents detail.
A spokesperson for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office reported that following his arrest, the suspect was released under pretrial supervision in compliance with the guidelines of the Criminal Justice Reform Act. However, warrants were issued for his arrest due to his absence from post-indictment appearances.
The attack came three years after a series of stabbings at various points along a subway line killed two people and injured two others within hours.
In 2019, four people sleeping on doorways and sidewalks in Chinatown were beaten to death and a fifth was seriously injured early Saturday morning.
(with information from AP)
