Jermain Rigueur, a hospital worker in New York, has been apprehended and charged following a spree of serial stabbings in Queens.
The 27-year-old is suspected of being responsible for stabbing at least five people in the last nine days. Three of these attacks came within the space of an hour on Wednesday morning.
Rigueur, who works as a greeter at the Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, was arrested late last night and is facing charges of attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
The police said all the attacks were unprovoked and conducted at random, and they suspect Rigueuer is the sole culprit. All the victims are expected to recover.
In an emergency press conference yesterday morning before Rigueuer was arrested, the cops appealed to the public for help. The police said they were looking for a Black male about 5 foot 6′ who occasionally wore a surgical mask and a lanyard.
The suspect was allegedly seen muttering to himself and speaking gibberish. After the second attack, he was recorded on surveillance footage stabbing the window of a nearby bodega with a hunting knife.
Jermain Rigueur is suspected of beginning NYC stabbing spree on January 8
The first stabbing occurred on January 8 when a 61-year-old man was struck in the lower back as he walked to a laundromat on 137th Avenue near 157th Street. Detectives say the attacker laughed in the victim’s face after the stabbing.
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On January 16, a 34-year-old woman was stabbed after she got off the bus. She was walking on Guy Brewer Boulevard, close to her home, when she became aware of a man right behind her just before she felt a stabbing pain in her back.
The woman said the attacker mumbled something at her before running off. She was able to stumble to her home, where her partner summoned an ambulance.
Queens stabbing spree: Jermain Rigueur accused of attacking three people in one hour
However, on Wednesday morning, the stabbings escalated. A 74-year-old male was stabbed in the back on 134th Avenue as he escorted his wife to work.
The attacker then struck twice more in quick succession in the same neighborhood. A 41-year-old male was hit as they walked to their car. They reported that the attacker stabbed them as they walked past in silence.
The fifth victim was a 36-year-old male who allegedly got into a fight with the attacker over a seat on a bus. The police are also investigating a sixth stabbing that also occurred yesterday on a subway train in Brooklyn.
Anyone with information about the stabbing spree is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).