Man stabbed to death by stranger in NYC subway station during rush-hour scuffle
A straphanger was stabbed to death after scuffling with a stranger who stepped on his shoes during Friday morning rush-hour in Manhattan — marking the first subway homicide of 2025, cops and sources said.
The 38-year-old victim — a “transit recidivist” criminal with more than 60 prior arrests — was riding a Brooklyn-bound No. 5 train when another commuter stepped on his feet around 8:40 a.m., according to authorities and sources.
The victim then flew into a rage, calling the shoe-stepper a gay slur, sources said.
That’s when the other man turned violent and stabbed him, according to the sources.
When the feuding pair got off the train at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station downtown, the wounded man chased after the alleged stabber — who then knifed him again, the sources said.
Cops found the victim — later identified as Fort Greene, Brooklyn, resident John Sheldon — unconscious and unresponsive with multiple stab wounds to the torso, police said.
He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he later succumbed to his grave injuries, cops said.
The attacker, also believed to be in his 30s, ran off and was still on the loose later Friday.
Sources say he initially got on the train at Grand Central-42nd Street, and was last seen wearing all black.
A 27-year-old city worker who comes into the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station on her daily morning commute to work said she saw two people fighting — and then saw the victim fall “head first on the ground.”
“When I got to him, I immediately called 911, because he looked unconscious and he was bleeding,” said the witness, who did not want to be identified. “But he definitely hit his head, head-first on the ground, and his eyes were rolling around. It seemed like he had a concussion or [something].”
She said it was “sad” to see no one else stepping in to help him – as other morning commuters simply stood around and took their phones out.
“You don’t know whose son is that. You want to make sure you get help as soon as possible,” she said
“The subway is not safe, I’ve always seen some crazy stuff, but that was a lot — seeing someone bleeding and unconscious,” the woman said. “But seeing that early in the morning, at 8 a.m., that was a lot to see.”
Trains were not stopping on the downtown side of the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station for hours after the deadly attack.
By the late morning, detectives and police officers were milling around as a heap of bloody tissues, blood stains, and a black piece of clothing lay on the downtown platform.
“We need to be careful on the subway these days,” said Youness Aehet, 25, a technician who lives in Brooklyn and was inside the station in the aftermath of the attack.
“They need to put something on the trains [metal detectors]. Maybe more cameras. We don’t feel safe on the subway any more.”
The latest NYPD data, updated Sunday, show felony crime overall in the subway system was down about 11% – with 589 incidents reported compared to 661 during the same period last year.
While murders, robberies, burglaries and grand larcenies are all down so far this year, felony assaults saw about a 9% spike – with 183 such crimes reported compared to 168 in 2024.
Rapes were also up, with four reported in the system so far in 2025 compared to two at this time last year, the statistics show.
According to the data, Friday’s deadly stabbing was the first homicide in the subway system of 2025.
The victim in the shocking slay was last arrested on Feb. 6 at One Penn Plaza for allegedly chasing down and trying to punch a person who refused to buy MetroCard swipes from him, sources said.
The victim was last arrested on Feb. 6 of this year at 1 Penn Plaza for allegedly chasing down and trying to punch a person who refused to buy MetroCard swipes from him, sources said.
While in police custody, he allegedly kicked a cop in the knee, according to the sources.
The disposition of that case was not immediately known.
In an afternoon press conference outside the station, Jack Nierenberg, vice president of the transportation advocacy group Passengers United, said the victim’s rap sheet points to “another failure with the system.”
“There needs to be serious reforms to the bail laws, giving the judges the proper jurisdiction that they need to actually handle these violent crimes that come into their courtrooms,” Nierenberg said.
As for the suspect, he added that there was “no excuse” for someone to carry a knife in the subway system.
“The MTA and our city and state elected officials really need to start taking the responsibility and hold themselves accountable and actually take proactive action that they should have been taking for so long now,” he added.
“Subway riders don’t feel safe because they aren’t safe right now.”
Charlton D’souza, president of Passengers United, said that violence has “become the normal” in the city.
“Everyone has become relaxed to this, and this is not what should happen,” he added. “And this crime happened right under City Hall.
“We‘be given up on the elected officials in New York City. They’re useless,” D’souza said. “They’re not doing anything, and every time a crime happens, they’ll tell us, oh, the crime stats are down. All they’re doing is comparing the statistics from last year to this year. It doesn’t help anyone.”
