The man wanted in connection with three stabbing attacks, one of them deadly, on sleeping homeless people in Manhattan was arrested Wednesday after a good Samaritan spotted him at a bus stop and reached out to the NYPD, authorities said.
Trevon Murphy, a 40-year-old who the NYPD says is also homeless, was charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault in the case. Information on a possible attorney for him wasn't available.
Police said that Murphy was hanging out by a bus stop at St. Nicholas Park in Harlem, when the good Samaritan — a retired correction officer — spotted him and flagged down two officers who made the arrest.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news briefing announcing the arrest later Wednesday that Murphy was wearing the same shirt and the same distinctive neon shoes the suspect in the case was seen wearing in footage released from one of the crime scenes the day before. She also said he should never have been on New York City streets, saying Murphy was wanted on an outstanding parole violation out of Tennessee during the stabbing spree.
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On top of that, Murphy was due back in court next week in a separate case involving a roommate he allegedly attacked in Queens back in April, Sewell said. He had been released on his own recognizance pending that upcoming hearing.
Details on the Tennessee parole violation weren't immediately clear. But the NYPD commissioner says at least one thing certainly is.
"This suspect should have never been on our streets. This man was preying on the vulnerable and we are thankful for the combined effort to apprehend this suspect quickly and safely," Sewell said. "This violence should not happen anywhere but when it does happen, New Yorkers are fortunate to have the combined commitment of your police working with the people we serve. This partnership once again puts the focus where it always belongs, which is getting justice for victims."
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The development came just after News 4 obtained a copy of an internal NYPD memo in which department officials warned patrol units in Manhattan to be alert for the serial stabber who attacked at least three homeless people within eight days.
The first victim, a 34-year-old, was sleeping on a park bench on the Hudson River Greenway at West 11th Street on July 5 when cops say the attacker stabbed him once in the stomach shortly after 3 a.m. He died of his injuries a short time later.
The other two victims -- a 59-year-old as he lay on a bench near Madison Avenue and East 49th Street around 10 p.m. Friday and a 28-year-old stabbed in Stanley Isaacs Playground on East 96th Street near the FDR Drive early Monday -- are expected to survive their injuries. They, like the man who died, were stabbed in the stomach.
None of the victims have been identified.
According to the internal NYPD memo, all officers were told to survey their assigned areas for potential homeless people and "proactively engage" with them in an effort to help get them off the streets. Wellness checks should also be conducted, and officers should remind people of shelter and other services available to them, it said.
The memo said special attention should be paid to areas where the homeless tend to camp, though it's not clear if that's how cops tracked down their suspect.
The case is the second involving a suspect apparently targeting homeless people in New York City this year. In March, a 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly shooting five people, killing some of them, in Manhattan and Washington, D.C.
