Three people were injured in a stabbing attack at Grand Central-42nd Street station on Saturday morning, and police shot and killed the suspect after he refused repeated orders to drop a machete, according to New York City police and news reports.
Police identified the suspect as 44-year-old Anthony Griffin. Investigators said the attack began on a No. 7 train that arrived at Grand Central from Queens, where Griffin allegedly slashed an 84-year-old man before moving onto the platform for the 4, 5, and 6 trains and stabbing two more victims.
The victims were a 65-year-old man, a 70-year-old woman, and an 84-year-old man. Police said all three were taken to hospitals and were in stable condition, but one victim suffered a serious head wound described as an open skull fracture, according to CNN.
Officers responded after a civilian alerted them to the assaults, and detectives found Griffin on the platform still holding the weapon. Police said he ignored more than 20 commands to drop the machete, advanced toward officers, and was shot by one detective.
Griffin was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The NYPD said it recovered the knife and was reviewing body-worn camera video as part of the investigation.
The attack briefly disrupted one of New York's busiest transit hubs, which handles heavy commuter traffic and connects multiple subway lines. Police said the case remains under investigation, including the exact sequence of events and how the confrontation started, CBS News reported.
Recent subway violence has also raised concern in the city, with several other attacks reported in the system in the past few months. In January, four people were attacked in separate subway crimes in just over a day, and in March, a 29-year-old man was slashed in a Bronx station after refusing to buy a subway swipe.
Other recent cases include a December 2025 Brooklyn subway dispute that police said may have involved a hate crime and a January 2025 incident in the Bronx where an MTA worker was stabbed during a verbal altercation.
Transit officials have said overall subway crime has fallen in recent years, but serious attacks continue to draw attention because they happen in crowded stations and can escalate quickly. State officials said in December 2025 that subway crime was on track for its lowest level in 16 years, even as authorities maintained expanded patrols and security measures, as per the New York Governor's Office.
