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NEW YORK (AP) — In a shocking incident at a prominent New York City subway station, police shot and killed a man wielding a machete after he attacked three individuals at random on Saturday morning, as reported by authorities.
Police officers rushed to the scene around 9:40 a.m. following an emergency report of an assault at the 42nd Street-Grand Central station. Upon arrival, they encountered the suspect, who was acting erratically and proclaiming himself as “Lucifer,” according to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch during an afternoon briefing. Despite being commanded to drop his weapon 20 times, the man refused to comply.
As he moved toward the officers with the machete raised, one officer fired two shots, striking him down.
“Our officers faced an armed assailant who had already harmed several individuals and continued to be a danger,” Tisch explained. “They issued clear orders and tried to de-escalate the situation. When the threat persisted, they acted decisively to protect the public on one of the city’s busiest train platforms.”
The suspect was identified as 44-year-old Anthony Griffin, who had a history of three previous unsealed arrests. He was declared dead at Bellevue Hospital.
The three stabbing victims — an 84 year-old male, 65-year-old male and 70-year-old female — sustained injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening, Tisch said. One man sustained “significant lacerations to the head and face,” the other man had similar injuries and an open skull fracture and the third victim had a laceration to the shoulder.
Tisch said the suspect slashed one person on a platform at the Grand Central station before going upstairs and slashing the other victims on another platform.
Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said the attacks appear to be random acts.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on social media that she was “grateful to our brave officers who acted quickly to stop the suspect. We’re working closely with the NYPD as the investigation unfolds.”
The police department, posting on the social platform X, advised travelers in the morning to avoid the area due to a police investigation and to expect delays and heavy traffic. Subway trains resumed stopping at the station in the afternoon after bypassing it for hours, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s website.
Beau Lardner said he was just swiping in at Grand Central when bangs rang out “loud enough to hear through headphones,” he told the AP in a message. The 34-year-old moved from Manhattan to Long Island a few weeks ago, but he’s been taking the same train from Grand Central for years.
“I know that platform like the back of my hand,” he said.
Lardner described a “wall of people” rushing toward him to get through the turnstiles, and he sprinted back up the stairs. He said he had “never seen a crowd move like that.”
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, N.C. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.