A man stabbed two teenage tourists having a Christmas morning meal with their parents at a Grand Central Terminal restaurant around 11:25 am on Monday, December 25. Before carrying out the attack, the suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Steven Hutcherson, yelled that he wanted “all white people dead.”
The girls, 14 and 16, were visiting from South America. They were attacked at Tartinery in the Grand Central Dining Concourse in New York City. Both suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds, police said, according to New York Post. “I want to sit next to the crackers,” Hutcherson shouted before the attack.
Hutcherson stabbed the 16-year-old in the back and the other girl in the thigh. Police said he had a history of past arrests and mental health issues. He allegedly carried out the attack after arriving at the restaurant and saying he wanted a table even though he would not order anything.
When the restaurant refused, he pointed out that the victims’ family was not eating anything at the time. He then grabbed the knife and stabbed the girls.
Transit police officers reportedly arrived in less than a minute. Seeing them, Hutcherson dropped the knife. “Everyone was just running,” a veteran MTA employee who was witness to the incident claimed, describing the scene as “chaotic.”
{{/usCountry}}Transit police officers reportedly arrived in less than a minute. Seeing them, Hutcherson dropped the knife. “Everyone was just running,” a veteran MTA employee who was witness to the incident claimed, describing the scene as “chaotic.”
{{/usCountry}}The victims, who were staying at a Midtown hotel nearby, were rushed to Bellevue Hospital. They were released a day later and “are OK,” according to a hotel worker.
Hutcherson has been booked on felony counts of attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and misdemeanour endangering the welfare of a child, according to the MTA. On Tuesday, December 26, he was waiting to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Hutcherson has a long rap sheet with 14 prior arrests, and has been classified as an “emotionally disturbed person,” law enforcement sources said. Before this incident, he was last arrested on November 7 for allegedly threatening to “shoot” a stranger in the Bronx.