Inside the recent spate of attacks on the New York City subway that have left commuters on edge
Felony assaults on the subway in NYC are up 60 percent since 2019
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A string of harrowing attacks on the New York City subway system in recent weeks has deepened a growing sense of unease among some locals.
When a woman was set ablaze inside a subway car in Brooklyn on December 22, graphic footage of the deadly attack ricocheted across social media, putting many who rely on the system on edge.
The brutal killing was the latest in a mounting series of violent incidents on the subway.
That same day, a man was stabbed to death on a train in Queens. On New Year’s Eve, a man was shoved in front of a train in Manhattan, but miraculously survived.
And on the first day of the new year, two men were stabbed 17 minutes apart in unrelated attacks at subway stations in Manhattan.
Despite years of efforts by city officials to make the mass transit system secure, including more police, more National Guard members, security cameras in every subway car and more outreach to homeless passengers, the subway has felt more dangerous in recent weeks.
Overall, according to authorities, crime is down in the transit system this year when compared to last year — major felonies declined six percent between January and November of this year and in 2023, data compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority show. But murders are up, with nine killings this year through November compared to five in the same period last year.
Woman is set on fire on subway
Debrina Kawam, 57, of Toms River, New Jersey, was sleeping inside a train car at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn on December 22 when she was set on fire by a stranger.
The suspect, Sebastian Zapeta, 33, watched from a bench on the platform as she burned, prosecutors alleged. He was arrested and faces one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson.
Mayor Eric Adams defended the system in a press conference on Tuesday but also noted his frustration at the difficulty of keeping mentally unwell people out of the subway stations.
“People should not be sleeping on subways and on streets,” he said. “And we should not wait until they commit a crime like burning an innocent person or shoving someone on the subway before we say we have a problem.”
Two hours later, a 45-year-old man was standing on the platform at the 18th Street station, looking down at his phone, when a man ran up and shoved him into the path of an arriving train.
Man shoved onto subway tracks and struck by train – but survives
Joseph Lynskey, 45, was hit by a southbound train at the 18th Street station in Manhattan on December 31, according to the New York Police Department.
Surveillance video obtained by media outlets appears to show the victim checking his phone when he was suddenly pushed off the platform by a man with a hood over his head just before the train pulled into the station.
Lynskey suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs and ruptured spleen, but survived.
Police arrested 23-year-old Kamel Hawkins, who has multiple prior arrests for assault and harassment, according to law enforcement sources, and charged him with attempted murder and second-degree assault.
Hawkins’s father said that his mental state had recently seemed disturbed, according to the New York Times.
“They want to hike fares up and they want to do certain things, but they can’t even keep the people of New York City protected,” passenger Anthony Rodriguez told ABC7. “You know what I’m saying? It’s kind of sad.”
New Year’s Day stabbing spree
The first two days of the new year began with a pair of unrelated stabbings on the subway.
Police said the first happened on Wednesday morning in Morningside Heights. A person standing on the southbound 1 train platform at the Cathedral Parkway–110th Street station was stabbed repeatedly.
The injured victim, who has not been named, was rushed to the hospital with stab wounds to the head, arm and hip
Police said the suspect was last seen wearing a red sweater, black jacket and black ski mask.
Just 15 minutes later, another stabbing occurred on a northbound 2 train in the area of 14th Street and 7th Avenue.
A 31-year-old man was stabbed in the back, and was transported to the hospital where his condition wasn’t immediately known.
Police do not believe the stabbings are related. No arrests in either attack have been made.
On Thursday, an MTA worker was stabbed at the Pelham Parkway subway station in the Bronx following an “verbal altercation” with another man.
The third stabbing in just over 24 hours comes at a time of increased focus on security in the subway system.
Subway crime by the numbers
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last month, days before Kawam was set on fire, that 250 more National Guard troops were being deployed into the system to help during the holiday season. She also announced that crime overall on the subway is down 10 percent since March.
“And only two years since the year 1970 have we had fewer subway crimes than we had last year,” she added.
Since the pandemic, subway ridership has recently reached its highest level, according to MTA officials. Alongside the increased ridership, there has been a substantial increase in violent crime on the subway.
Felony assaults in the system are up 60 percent since 2019, according to reports compiled by the Times. Murders are up from three in 2019 to at least 11 in 2024. Also in 2024, people were pushed to the tracks at least 25 times compared with 20 times in 2019.
On Wednesday, Governor Hochul said in a statement that she is backing a bill that would make it easier to involuntarily hospitalize people in psychiatric crisis, which could help reduce attacks in the subways.
“We have a duty to protect the public from random acts of violence,” she said, “and the only fair and compassionate thing to do is to get people the help they need.”