New York City police have arrested a suspect in connection with a spate of stabbing attacks on the city’s subway that left two people dead, authorities said on Sunday.
Rigoberto Lopez is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder, the New York police department said on Twitter.
The four unprovoked attacks apparently targeted homeless people and took place on the A train or at stations served by it beginning on Friday morning.
Local radio station 1010WINS, citing police sources, said Lopez was taken into custody late on Saturday wearing blood-soaked clothes and shoes.
The victim of the first attack, a 67-year-old man, was recovering in hospital after being stabbed by a masked assailant at the West 181st Street station in upper Manhattan, police said.
Hours later, a man was found stabbed to death on an A train at Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station in Queens, at the other end of the line.
Soon after that, a 44-year-old woman was discovered unconscious with stab wounds on an A train at the 207th Street station in northern Manhattan. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The fourth person stabbed was a 43-year-old man who was attacked early on Saturday, also at West 181st Street. After undergoing surgery, he was in a stable condition, police said.
New York City police commissioner Dermot Shea told reporters 500 additional officers were being deployed to the city’s transit system “to make sure people feel safe”.