Man Attacks Victim With Samurai Sword at New York Subway Station

A victim was attacked by a man wielding a samurai sword at a New York City subway station on Thursday morning.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Newsweek that the incident occurred at the subway station that is located between Chambers Street and Church Street in lower Manhattan.

According to the spokesperson, the attack happened at around 9:27 a.m. local time this morning when a 29-year-old male was attacked in the stairwell of the subway station by an unknown male.

"Unknown male, dark skin male, wearing all black with a black baseball cap that had the Marvel comics logo on it," the spokesperson told Newsweek.

The NYPD spokesperson said that the unknown male attacked the 29-year-old victim with an "alleged sword" that was inside its sheath. Following the attack, the 29-year-old victim suffered a laceration to the forehead and was taken to New York Downtown Hospital in "stable condition."

"The perpetrator fled out to the street-top side in an unknown direction," the spokesperson said.

Following the attack, there were reports on social media that the suspect was dressed in a ninja suit, however the NYPD spokesperson could not confirm this to Newsweek.

The attack on Thursday comes as New York City continues to face a wave of crime on its streets and in its subway stations. On Wednesday night, a 26-year-old man was stabbed by an unknown suspect while riding the No. 2 Train in the city's Upper West Side.

According to WABC-TV in New York, the stabbing was prompted by a verbal argument between the suspect and the victim, after the suspect confronted the victim's girlfriend. The victim suffered a wound on his left leg and the suspect was later hit with pepper spray by the victim's girlfriend, the local news station reported.

Earlier this month, the NYPD released its crime statistics for September, which showed some crimes decreasing from the same month in 2021, but noted that the "overall index crime in New York City increased in September 2022, by 15.2% compared with September 2021 (11,057 v. 9,596)."

"For the month of September 2022, the number of overall shooting incidents decreased in New York City compared with September 2021," the NYPD said in its report. "Citywide shooting incidents decreased by 13.2% (118 v. 136), driven by significant declines in Brooklyn, southern Queens, the Bronx, and northern Manhattan. Additionally, the number of murders citywide decreased for the month of September by 23.5% (39 v. 51) compared to the same period last year."