The New York Post reports that a video shows a man with a rap sheet stabbing a mother while she was chaperoning a Saturday school trip in Times Square.
Amber Lohr, 36, from western Pennsylvania, was stabbed in the chest while chaperoning a school trip in Times Square. Amber was escorting her group of students when Cyril Destin, a 61-year-old with a criminal record, allegedly launched an unprovoked assault. according to to the New York Post. Amber’s husband, John Lohr, expressed her family’s decision not to return to New York City.
Amber, a mother of five, was tutoring students near Times Square when Destin, who has been arrested 14 times in 20 years, was suddenly attacked, the newspaper reported. The man was sitting outside the deli when he allegedly jumped up and stabbed Amber and her students as they emerged from the gift shop. John recounted the horrifying incident.
Today’s cover: Shocking video of serial criminal stabbing random tourists to death near Times Square https://t.co/LYwioCH4E6 pic.twitter.com/Pu2gFlLCSa
— New York Post (@nypost) May 13, 2024
“A man with a very long history came out of nowhere and stabbed my wife in the chest, attacked her and came within inches of killing her,” John told the New York Post.
Despite being seriously injured, Amber remained calm and kept her students safe. John described her as a hero for staying in front of her children and quietly instructing them to leave. After Amber made sure she was safe, she revealed that she had been stabbed for the first time, and her bystanders called for her help, the newspaper said.
John thanked the unidentified witnesses and praised the girls’ bravery despite their fears. Amber was immediately treated on the sidewalk and she was taken to a nearby hospital. Surveillance camera footage showed Destin holding a knife when police arrived and arrested him. (Related: ‘I couldn’t feel a pulse’: Store clerk reportedly stabbed customer he thought stole)
“This man could have killed my wife, or worse, he could have killed one of the children she was with,” John added. “It makes me sick to think that I could have planned a funeral to celebrate my wife on Mother’s Day.”
Destin, who lives in a nearby shelter, is charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. His criminal history includes arrests for menacing, trespassing, theft and other crimes, as well as records of erratic behavior and hallucinations, according to the New York Post.
