Three people were fatally stabbed in Manhattan Monday morning in an unprovoked spree by a lone attacker, police said.
The suspect, identified by police as Ramon Rivera, is a 51-year-old resident of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on E. 30th St. near First Ave. who randomly selected his victims, police sources said. Rivera was taken into custody after the third stabbing, said police.
Mayor Eric Adams, at a press conference at the 17th Precinct station house, said he believed the stabbings were the result of failure of the criminal justice and mental health systems. Rivera has eight prior New York City arrests, police sources told The Daily News, including one case still pending.
“Today we have three innocent New Yorkers going about their lives, the victims of terrible, terrible assaults,” said Adams, adding that the attacks “left us searching for answers how something like this could happen.”
“It is a classic, classic example of the criminal justice system, the mental health system that continues to fail New Yorkers,” he added.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the attacks were random.
“As of right now these attacks seem to be unprovoked,” said Kenny. “He just walked up to them and attacked them with the knives.”
The first victim, a 36-year-old construction worker, was stabbed about 8:20 a.m. on W. 19th St. near Tenth Ave. in Chelsea, police said. The suspect walked up to the construction worker and began stabbing him before running off, cops said.
“He’s standing in front of a construction site where he is employed when without warning he is stabbed in the abdomen,” said Kenny.
The assailant ran off, and was described as a light-skinned man with a beard wearing a gray shirt and dark-colored ski hat.
Medics rushed the construction worker to Bellevue Hospital, where he died at 8:30 a.m., police said. His name was not immediately released.
A woman who lives across the street was outside in her garden when she heard a commotion and then yelling.
“It was just a scream, ‘Call 911!’ And then that got my attention,” the woman, who gave her name as Barbara, told the Daily News.
The victim was motionless as he lay in the street covered by a blanket, his tan construction boots visible.
“(Medics) ran out of the ambulance. They were checking his heartbeat,” she said. “Then they pulled him up and put him in the ambulance.”
The second victim, a 68-year-old man, was fishing in the East River Promenade near the Water Club when he was stabbed at 10:27 a.m. at E. 30th St. and the FDR Drive in Kips Bay, said police. Medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital but doctors could not save him.
Kenny said that victim was stabbed “multiple times in the body.”
Less than a half hour later, at 10:55 a.m. a 36-year-old woman was stabbed at E. 42nd St. and First Ave. in Murray Hill.
According to police, a passing cab driver saw the assault, mistook it for a robbery, and flagged down a nearby cop.
NYPD Officer Robert Garvey, who had been posted near the United Nations on E. 44th St. and First Ave., caught up with Rivera on E. 46th St. and First Ave. and detained him. Rivera was soon arrested, with charges pending.
Adams said the quick actions of the cabbie and Garvey “saved the lives of other New Yorkers.”
“I just heard a commotion, I stepped outside and heard what people were saying and reacted,” said Garvey at the press conference.
The victim in that stabbing was rushed to NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell Hospital in critical condition. She died hours later.
A trail of blood was visible on E. 42nd St. and First Ave., turning the corner west onto E. 42nd St. About a quarter of the way down the block the trail ended in a large pool of blood. A blue winter coat and orange-and-blue hat sat on the ground nearby.
Two bloody carving knives were recovered from the suspect, whose clothing was also covered in blood, said Kenny.
“There’s a real question as to why he was on the street,” said Adams of Rivera. “He has some serious mental health issues.”
On Oct. 17, Rivera was arrested and charged with grand larceny for stealing an acrylic bowl from a Jonathan Adler store in Soho valued at $1,495, said sources.
The Assistant District Attorney asked for bail but Rivera was released with no bail and ultimately charged with petty larceny and possession of stolen property.
Two months earlier, on Aug. 5, Rivera was sentenced to 364 days for a series of three Manhattan burglaries that took place in December and January, according to sources.
In May, Rivera was arrested for an assault on a cop inside Bellevue’s psychiatric ward. He pleaded guilty the same day to attempted assault and was sentenced to 90 days on Sept. 4.
Rivera was also arrested in the Bronx in December 2023 for petty larceny, said sources.
Police responded to two incidents in 2023 where the suspect was emotionally disturbed.
According to sources, in November, Rivera was found lying on a curb, nearly Flushing, Queens, acting erratically and saying his arm hurt. The following month he called 911 to report being suicidal and saying he wanted to kill someone. Medics took him to Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn.
Rivera also has numerous out-of-state arrests.
In January he was busted in Union City, N.J., on a fugitive from justice charge and the same month arrested twice in Hoboken for criminal mischief, sources said.
He was charged in 2018 with assault in Columbus, Ohio, and 2017 for assault in Cleveland.
In 2010 Rivera had a probation violation arrest in Florida and in 2009 he was arrested twice more, including once for driving under the influence. Rivera was also arrested in 2006 on a prostitution-related charge and in 2003 for battery in Florida, according to sources.
A neighbor who lives on the block where the first slaying took place was shocked to hear the victim was the friendly construction worker who he had seen at the work site for the past two weeks.
“He died? Oh wow,” said the neighbor, who gave his name as Orlando and started to cry.
“He was a nice guy,” said Orlando, 55. “Very quiet guy.”
“He was respectful. He would say good morning,” he added. “He looked like a guy who would go to church. Very clean-cut guy.”
Orlando, who has lived on the block for over 20 years, said the fatal stabbing was a disturbing event that reminded him of times past.
“I haven’t heard of anything like this in a long time,” he said.
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