A scissor-wielding man slashed two people in apparently random attacks in the West Village Thursday morning — and then bolted to Midtown, where he was arrested, cops and law enforcement sources said.
The 45-year-old suspect, described by sources as an emotionally disturbed person, targeted the victims on Hudson Street, at Christopher and Bleecker Streets, around 9:30 a.m., police said.
He first approached a man and slashed him once in the neck with the scissors, authorities said.
The unhinged attacker then slashed a 24-year-old man in the right forearm with the same weapon before he took off, apparently hopping on a train uptown, cops and sources said.
A 48-year-old assailant targeted the victims on Hudson Street, at Christopher and Bleecker Streets around 9:30 a.m., according to police. Google MapsEagle-eyed NYPD Transit cops later busted the suspect at West 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue, police said.
Yang Jung Kyu, the co-owner the Abingdon Market at Bleecker and Hudson Streets, said one of the victims was eating a sandwich outside when he was attacked.
“I was in the cashier and I heard some screaming sounds,” said Kyu, who has been running the shop for 15 years with his brother.
“There were two customers in front of me so … I finished with them and came out,” he said, “But the guy who was stabbed was already running away and the guy who stabbed him went the other way.”
A server from The Butcher’s Daughter restaurant across Hudson, on Bank Street, said he called 911 when he spotted a man dressed in a blue shirt and wearing multiple chains who “was yelling and screaming.”
Three passerby disturbed by the scene outside came into the Abingdon Market and told Kyu that the victim, who appeared to be homeless, “was sitting out here and then [the suspect] stabbed him.
The suspect slashed one man once in the neck with the scissors and another man in the right forearm with the same weapon, cops and sources said. Google Maps“I saw the homeless guy who was stabbed, but I didn’t see any blood,” Kyu added. “I just heard him scream.”
Both victims refused medical attention. The man who was slashed in the neck ran off before police arrived and could take down his name, according to sources.
The suspect – identified by sources as Hassan Victoria – was hospitalized uptown, the sources said. Charges against him were pending.
Victoria previously served nearly 16 years behind bars, from 1996 to 2012, in connection to a first-degree manslaughter conviction, records show.
He has also served two separate sentences for criminal contempt, according to the records.
In the most recent case, he was released on parole in December of 2022.
