A deadly stabbing attack unfolded in the heart of Manhattan's Times Square on Tuesday afternoon, leaving one woman dead and a man seriously injured before police fatally shot the assailant. The incident occurred in one of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, sending tourists and workers fleeing as the violence erupted in broad daylight.
According to the New York Police Department, the attack began in the late afternoon near 41st Street and Seventh Avenue. A 49-year-old woman from Queens pulled two large kitchen knives from a shopping bag and began attacking passersby without any apparent provocation. Her first victim was a 68-year-old man who had just emerged from a subway station and was waiting to cross the street. The woman approached him and stabbed him in the abdomen. While bystanders attempted to provide first aid and stop the bleeding, the attacker continued north along the avenue to 42nd Street, where she assaulted a 32-year-old woman, stabbing her in the abdomen as well. The younger victim later died from her injuries at the hospital.
Police officers already deployed in the area responded within minutes and located the suspect standing behind a local police station, waving both knives in the air toward officers and the large crowd that had gathered. For approximately four minutes, officers repeatedly ordered her to drop the knives. She refused and shouted at them that she would not put down the knives and that she preferred to kill them.
