A man with a machete slashed and injured three people at New York City’s Grand Central on Saturday before he was fatally shot by police, officials said.
The NYPD said officers encountered the armed man on the 4, 5, 6 subway platform at Grand Central-42nd Street at around 9:40 a.m. after a civilian alerted them and they found a slashing victim.
The man, identified as 44-year-old Anthony Griffin, was armed with a large knife and “behaving erratically, repeatedly stating that he was ‘Lucifer,'” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Griffin refused numerous orders to drop the knife and advanced toward the officers before he was shot, Tisch said. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
“The individual refused to comply with at least 20 orders to drop the knife. Officers also attempted to deescalate and offer assistance, saying, ‘We are going to get you help,'” the commissioner said.
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The slashings appeared to be random, according to investigators.
Tisch said Griffin boarded a Manhattan-bound 7 train at Vernon Boulevard in Queens at around 9:30 a.m. When the train arrived at Grand Central, he slashed an 84-year-old man on the platform and then went upstairs to the 4, 5, 6 platform, where he slashed a 65-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, she said.
The victims were hospitalized with serious injuries, but they were not expected to be life-threatening. One victim suffered a skull fracture and severe lacerations, Tisch said.
The NYPD issued an alert to avoid the area around Grand Central and the MTA said 4, 5, 6 and 7 trains were bypassing the station due to the investigation.
“No officers were injured in this incident and the whole incident was captured on body-worn camera. This remains an active investigation and we will provide additional information as it becomes available,” Tisch said.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement, “I’m grateful to the NYPD for their quick response and for preventing additional violence. The NYPD is conducting an internal investigation and will release body-worn camera footage, as it does in all incidents involving the discharge of an officer’s firearm.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was also briefed on the incident and “grateful to our brave officers who acted quickly to stop the suspect.”
