‘He didn’t see anything’: NYC commuter stabbed multiple times in back by smiling stranger while checking phone on subway

A New York City commuter was stabbed multiple times while riding the subway in Queens on Sunday night, marking another incident of random violence on public transit. Roberto Gaspar, 25, was on his way home from work when he was attacked from behind by an unknown assailant.

The incident occurred around 11:20 p.m. on a northbound No. 7 train approaching the 111th Street station in Corona. According to the NYPD, Gaspar was stabbed once in the neck and twice in the back with an unknown sharp object, as oer Fox News. The suspect fled the train at the station while Gaspar was rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in critical condition.

“He is serious, he can’t talk,” Gaspar’s friend Tomas Calel told the New York Post. “He’s in the ICU. He’s hooked up to machines.” Calel added that his friend never saw the attack coming. “I feel bad for him. He didn’t see anything. He doesn’t know who did it,” Calel said.

Gaspar works 10-hour shifts five days a week at a Manhattan restaurant, sending money home to his family in Guatemala. The attack happened as he was returning from one of these long work days. Security footage released by the NYPD shows the alleged suspect, described as having a light complexion and slim build, appearing to smile while on board the train the night of the attack. Police estimate the suspect is between 20 and 25 years old.

Fear spreads among transit riders following recent attacks

The stabbing has left Gaspar’s friends fearful of using public transit. “Sometimes I go to work by train, sometimes I go by bike,” Calel said. “I take the train at night, I come home at 10 at night. I’m afraid to take the train now because what happened to my friend could happen to me too.”

The attack comes just weeks after another deadly incident on public transit. On August 22, Iryna Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed while riding a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who fled the war in her home country, was on her way home from working at a local pizzeria when she was allegedly attacked by Decarlos Brown Jr. Surveillance footage showed Brown stabbing Zarutska from behind just four minutes after she boarded the train.

Brown, 34, has been charged with federal crimes that could make him eligible for the death penalty. He had been arrested 14 times previously and was homeless at the time of the attack. His family told reporters he struggled with mental health issues.

The incidents have sparked renewed concerns about public transit safety across the country, similar to when Broadway actors were attacked in Manhattan earlier this year. No arrests have been made in the Gaspar case, and police continue to search for the suspect.