An unidentified passenger riding the northbound C Train slashed two fellow passengers — perfect strangers — across their faces as the train headed through Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, on Tuesday afternoon, according to NYPD and MTA officials.
The double slashing occurred just after 3 p.m. near the Ralph Avenue station at Fulton Street, officials said.
“Two victims were slashed in the face and removed to Brookdale Hospital,” an NYPD spokeswoman told Patch. Both men were expected to survive.
Various news outlets identified the victims as Matthew Ruff, 23, and Oneal Mendez, 32, both of the Bronx.
According to the New York Daily News, the assailant, a “madman” who wore a denim jacket and Timberland boots, was apprehended by police a few blocks from the Ralph Avenue station, at Rockaway Avenue and Fulton Street.
An NYPD spokeswoman said around 5 p.m. that a 29-year-old suspect had been taken into custody.
“It was random,” a police source told the Daily News of the crime. “I don’t know why — it’s so hard to understand. No words, no quotes, he just slashed them.”
A razor was reportedly recovered by police from the subway car.
According to CBS2:
Witnesses said the suspect spoke not a word as he sliced Mendez’s head with the box cutter blade. Police said Ruff tried to leave the area afterward, and the same suspect slashed his head.
For hours on Tuesday afternoon and evening, northbound C Trains were running express from Broadway Junction to Hoyt-Schermerhorn, and southbound C Trains were bypassing the Ralph Avenue station.
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