A man who stabbed three people with a machete at New York City's Grand Central subway station was shot and killed by police on Saturday morning, according to the city's police commissioner, Jessica Tisch.
The incident began around 9:40 am when officers were flagged down by a witness. They encountered the suspect, identified as 44-year-old Anthony Griffin, who defied at least 20 verbal orders to drop the weapon and repeatedly stated that he was 'Lucifer'. Despite attempts to de-escalate, including telling the suspect they would get him help, he approached officers with the weapon, prompting one officer to shoot him twice. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Surveillance footage showed Griffin entering the subway system in Queens earlier that morning. His first victim, an 84-year-old man, was slashed on the head on the 7 train platform. The suspect then moved to the platform for the 4, 5 and 6 lines, where he slashed a 65-year-old man, fracturing his skull, and then slashed a third victim, a woman, in the shoulder.
All three victims were hospitalised in stable condition with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. The entire incident was captured on body-worn camera, Tisch said. New York's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, was briefed on the incident. The suspect had three prior arrests but no history of being classified as an 'emotionally disturbed person'. Multiple subway trains bypassed the station until further notice.
