The number of murders in the city's subways this year has reached 10 as 2024 draws to a close, matching the previous 25-year high set in 2022, authorities said.
The tragic milestone came as part of a weekend of violence on the Big Apple's transit system, when an undocumented immigrant allegedly burned a woman to death as she slept on a Brooklyn train.
According to police, a violent man senselessly punched a 76-year-old woman in the head, causing her to fall to the ground, on Sunday at about 4:30 p.m. on platform 6 southbound on 51st Street.
Police released images of the attacker, who was seen in stable condition in hospital and the attacker standing on the platform wearing a white winter hat with a gray pompom on the top.
Hours later, around 10 p.m. Sunday, someone struck the 27-year-old straphanger in the back of the head on the northbound platform 6 on Bleecker Street in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack, police and sources said.
Police said the ruthless assailant continued punching and kicking the victim even after he fell to the floor, causing minor injuries.
The suspect then fled the scene but was not captured until Monday morning.
The first half of the weekend was marked by other acts of violence on the tracks.
Police and officials say two of five young immigrant men were robbed by a 69-year-old man on a southbound No. 7 train at the 61st Street Woodside Station in Queens around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. attacked people.
Authorities said an unidentified 37-year-old man was stabbed to death and 26-year-old Philip Peña was left with non-life-threatening cuts.
Pena was hospitalized in stable condition and later charged with robbery, assault, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and harassment in connection with the social encounter, police said.
Henry Toapanta, 32, Oswald Walter, 29, and Jose Valencia, 35, also face similar charges, authorities said.
Police said the stabbing suspect also suffered cuts and was taken into custody.
As of Monday, the Queens District Attorney's Office had declined to prosecute the case because it appears the elderly man stabbed the two men in self-defense, law enforcement officials said.
In a separate attack, a baby-faced duo are suspected of fatally shooting two young men, ages 18 and 21, at Brooklyn's Avenue U subway station around 3:10 p.m. Saturday, police said.
The two injured had just gotten off the southbound Q train. Shots were fired, striking the younger victim in the left arm and torso and the older victim in the left leg.
Both men were taken to a local hospital, where their condition is said to be stable.
Video released by the NYPD shows the suspects, who appear to be teenagers, getting off the bus and then off the train.
The motive for the violence is still under investigation.
A heartless assailant punched an 83-year-old man who accidentally tripped over his foot, sparking an argument on a Lower Manhattan train Friday morning, police and officials said.
Authorities said the suspect punched an elderly man multiple times in the face around 6:10 a.m. on a southbound Route 5 train approaching the Fulton Street station.
The NYPD released a photo of the suspect wearing an orange sweatshirt with the hood up, a black vest, sunglasses, a baseball cap, and multiple rings and bracelets.
The weekend's violence began with a horrifying incident at Coney Island. Sebastián Zapeta Khalil, 33, a Guatemalan immigrant, is said to have used what appeared to be a lighter to ignite the clothing on a sleeping strap hanger, engulfing him in flames and killing him at the scene.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the killing “one of the most despicable crimes one person can commit.”
So far this year, 10 murders have been reported in the city's subways through Sunday, double the five the NYPD investigated during the same period last year.
The spike in homicides matches the previous 25-year high set in 2022, when 10 homicides were also reported, according to the data.
From 1997 to 2019, there were never more than five subway homicides in a year, according to the NYPD's oldest publicly available data.
According to statistics, 6 people died in transport in 2020 and 8 in 2021.
Felony assaults on transit reported so far this year are about the same as last year's tally, with 565 compared to 566 for the same period in 2023.
However, the past 28 days have been particularly violent in the city's underground areas, with 51 reported serious assaults compared to 38 during the same period in 2023.
Overall, serious crime within the subway system has decreased by just over 5% so far this year.
