Man, 25, stabbed, critically hurt during clash with smiling straphanger on board NYC train: cops

A 25-year-old man was critically wounded when a smiling straphanger stabbed him multiple times during a Sunday night clash on board a Queens train, cops said.

The victim was riding a Manhattan-bound 7 train passing through the 111th Street station in Corona around 11:30 p.m. when the attacker approached him from behind and stabbed him once in the neck and twice in the back with an “unknown sharp object,” police said. 

The two men did not know each other, but had gotten into a dispute before the violence, authorities said.

The exact nature of the verbal clash was not immediately clear.

The victim was taken to New York Presbyterian/Queens Hospital, where police initially reported he was listed in stable condition but later described him as critical.

The NYPD later released a surveillance image of the suspect grinning as he stood on the train, with a black Champion hoodie pulled up over his head, wearing light-colored pants and black sneakers.

Anyone with information on the assault is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.