Moment knifeman attacks stranger in Manhattan on weekday afternoon

A man in the Upper East Side wearing an all-black outfit and mask was caught on surveillance camera hacking a pedestrian he didn’t know with a knife in broad daylight.

The NYPD said the stabbing took place at about 1:50p.m. on Thursday at the corner of Third Avenue and East 63rd Street, just a couple of feet away from the entrance of the subway station on Lexington Avenue and 63rd.

The suspect reportedly approached the victim from behind after hopping off his electronic bike and crossing the street, according to law enforcement officials.

The NYPD only released video footage of the attack on May 28, two days after it took place. In the footage, the victim attempts to fight off the stabber with his bare fists before running away and dropping his delivery bag in the process. 

Police said the unidentified victim was slashed by the madman several times, around his arm and his back, according to AMNY. Cops say there was no suggestion the two men knew one another, and are stumped as to a motive for the attack. 

Before the attack broke out on Thursday, the unidentified suspect was seen getting off his e-bike before crossing the street near Third Avenue and 63rd Street

The knifing took place near the entrance of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street subway station, serving the F and Q lines. Without provocation, the victim was attacked by the madman after he took out his knife

The victim, who remains unidentified, tried dodging slashes made by the attacker, but suffered injuries near his arm and on his back before being taken to Cornell Medical Center

Police did not reveal the cause behind the knifing, and reported that the victim was attacked without any knowledge of provoking the perpetrator.   

The assault, though, did not go unnoticed, as blood stains on the sidewalk drew the public’s attention. 

Police also said that the suspect had fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction.

The near-deadly assault was then reported to the 19th Precinct. First aid responders brought the victim to Cornell Medical Center, where he is believed to be in stable condition.

The suspect has been described by police as a black man, believed to be about 30-years-old. He is also said to have a medium build and to be wearing a black sweater, a black mask, black jeans and black shoes. 

His electronic bike is also black, according to footage of the Thursday’s incident.

New Yorkers have been growing weary over the latest spite in violence and crimes on the city streets and subways.

While murders and shootings are down 10 and roughly five percent from the already crime-riddled 2021 under lame duck Mayor Bill de Blasio, overall crime in the Big Apple is up 40 percent so far in 2022.

That includes a 19 percent rise in felony assaults, a nearly 15 percent increase in rapes and a 40 percent jump in robberies.

Transit is up the highest at 62 percent as well – and the the recent rise in subway crime has set New Yorkers on edge.

On Sunday, Daniel Enriquez, a 48-year-old Goldman Sachs employee was riding the Q train from his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn to Manhattan when a gunman, believed to be Andrew Abdullah, opened fire as the train was crossing the Manhattan Bridge in an unprovoked attack.

In April, during the morning commute, suspect Frank James opened fire on a Manhattan-bound N train. No one was killed. James was charged with carrying out a terror attack against a mass transit system and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, reports said.