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A migrant was stabbed and slashed by an apparent stranger who tried to steal his cell phone steps from Penn Station Wednesday, police said. 

The 29-year-old man was talking on the phone at West 31st Street and Eighth Avenue around 1:15 p.m. when a man came up behind him and tried to grab the device, authorities and sources said. 

When the victim refused to hand over the phone, the would-be thief stabbed him in the back and slashed him in the arm, cops and sources said.

The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

He is a resident of a building formerly used by Touro College, which now houses migrants and is located at the same intersection where the assault took place, sources said. 


  A migrant (not pictured) was stabbed and slashed by an apparent stranger (not pictured) who tried to steal his cell phone steps from Penn Station Wednesday, police said. Polaris A migrant (not pictured) was stabbed and slashed by an apparent stranger (not pictured) who tried to steal his cell phone steps from Penn Station Wednesday, police said. Polaris

  The 29-year-old man (not pictured) was talking on the phone at West 31st Street and Eighth Avenue around 1:15 p.m. when a man (not pictured) came up behind him and tried to grab the device, authorities and sources said. REUTERS The 29-year-old man (not pictured) was talking on the phone at West 31st Street and Eighth Avenue around 1:15 p.m. when a man (not pictured) came up behind him and tried to grab the device, authorities and sources said. REUTERS

Cops do not believe the migrant knew his attacker, who took off. 

The assailant was carrying a multi-colored backpack and wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, police said. 

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