A 59-year-old man was stabbed to death aboard a Queens rush-hour subway train during an unprovoked argument committed by an emotionally disturbed commuter on Wednesday, cops said.
The bloody killing comes as cops face an uptick in assaults in the city’s transit system, as well as a handful of incidents where emotionally disturbed travelers lashed out at their fellow commuters.
The victim was stabbed multiple times in the chest and neck aboard a Queens-bound J train at the Woodhaven Blvd. subway station around 5:20 p.m., police said.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the bloodshed, but a police source said the two men were arguing moments before the stabbing took place. It wasn’t clear if the two knew each other.
WABC Eyewitness News was told that the altercation was random and unprovoked.
Medics rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital, where he died. His name was not immediately released.
The emotionally disturbed man was taken into custody by police on the station’s platform.
Charges were pending.
The killing comes amid a spate of incidents where emotionally disturbed commuters either attacked or shoved innocent straphangers onto the tracks.
On Aug. 27, Lydia Zuniga was waiting for a Manhattan-bound No. 5 train at the elevated E. 180th St. station near Morris Park Ave. in West Farms at about 1:45 p.m. where a mentally ill man shoved her onto the train tracks in an unprovoked attack. Her attacker left the station and admitted himself into a psychiatric hospital, officials said.
Zungia’s leg was broken in three places.
Other victims include a 70-year-old woman who was hurled onto the tracks at the 57th St.-Seventh Ave. train station in Midtown on July 18. And on April 11, Anthony Griffin, 44, was shot dead by police for slashing three elderly victims with a machete and calling himself “Lucifer” at Grand Central Station, cops said.
New York City has struggled with the care and treatment of the mentally ill for years. The shutdown of large-scale psychiatric institutions left a void in the system, as the community-based care network that was supposed to fill the gap is widely seen as inadequate and underfunded.