A man stabbed two teenage tourists having a Christmas meal with their parents at a Grand Central Terminal restaurant on Monday, December 25, CBS News reported. The two victims, who are teenage sisters from South America, were enjoying a meal with their parents when one was stabbed in the back and the other in the thigh. The 14 and 16-year-olds suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds, police sources said. They were both taken to Bellevue Hospital where they are still recovering.
The attacker was identified as 36-year-old Steven Hutcherson, who allegedly attacked the tourists after getting into an altercation with restaurant workers who were trying to remove him from the establishment. According to the New York Post, Hutcherson yelled, "I want all the white people dead. I want to sit next to the crackers," before attacking the teens.
Chaos soon erupted, with some customers running from the scene of the attack.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police quickly apprehended Hutcherson, who put the knife down and surrendered. He now faces charges of attempted murder, assault with intent to harm, criminal possession of a weapon with a prior conviction, and child endangerment.
“They [the victims] had no idea he was even there, and he just pulled out a knife and stabbed one girl in the back,” the manager of the restaurant said, according to NBC4.
Speaking of the incident, Mayor Eric Adams said, ''Any time you have incidents in these high-profile locations it sends the feeling of people don't feel safe and that's why we have to zero in and make the arrest as soon as possible and make sure we get those repeated offenders off our streets.''
According to the police, Hutcherson has a history of past arrests and mental health issues. He had 16 arrests before that and was known to the police for being mentally unstable, ABC 7 reported. Before this incident, he was last arrested on November 7 for allegedly threatening to ''shoot'' a stranger in the Bronx, as per Sky News.
''I'm gonna shoot you. I don't care what kind of green card the government gave you. Open your mouth and say something. I will shoot you right now,'' he said, according to the criminal complaint against him.
