A 34-year-old was stabbed twice in a Manhattan subway station early Wednesday as the morning rush got underway, police said — and the attacker is still on the loose.
Cops say they were called to the Delancey and Essex streets station in the Lower East Side around 5:30 a.m. for a report about a male stabbed in the J train mezzanine area. They found the victim with stab wounds to his neck and back.
He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. The victim, 34-year-old Anthony Chávez, told NBC New York he wasn't sure why he was targeted.
"I wake up to a book bag, bam, in my face," said Chavez, who said he's homeless. "I follow him outside. When I get upstairs, that's when he grabbed me."
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He was treated by EMS before being loaded into an ambulance. He was released from the hospital later Wednesday, his face bandaged and stained in blood.
Friends of Chavez said he may have been stabbed by someone he knew, after some sort of heat argument between the two. They said Chavez is not known for getting into street fights.
The NYPD says cops are looking for a person of interest in a white hooded sweatshirt who was last seen running outside the station, but no further description was offered. No arrests have been made.
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Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
