(CNN) — Three unprovoked stabbings across Manhattan Monday morning that left two men and one woman dead show how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers, the city’s mayor said.
The suspect is 51-year-old Ramon Rivera – who appears to be homeless and has a history of “severe mental health issues,” authorities said.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said what happened was a “clear example” of how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers. The investigation will partly focus on why the suspect was on the streets despite being sentenced for a crime a few months ago and if supposed “severe mental health issues” were not evaluated, the mayor said at a news conference.
Rivera has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the attacks and it’s unclear whether he has retained an attorney. Police said they are not currently looking for any additional suspects.
Rivera has eight prior arrests, with the most recent for grand larceny in October, according to city officials. His criminal record dates back to 2003, spans multiple states including Florida, Ohio and New Jersey and his address matched a city homeless shelter, according to a law enforcement official.
The attacks come at a time when the issues of criminal justice, homelessness, and the mentally ill have taken center stage at the trial of a former Marine charged with manslaughter in the chokehold death of a homeless street artist on the New York City subway last year.
“Ramon Rivera is not just the suspect in this case, but, he’s a composite of what Mayor Adams – Eric Adams – described yesterday as two broken systems: The criminal justice system in New York City and a failing mental health system,” CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said.
City crime data from the NYPD indicates that the city experienced a nearly 5 percent decrease in murders and non-negligent homicides as of mid-November compared to the previous year.
Three attacks in less than three hours
The stabbings happened over less than three hours Monday morning.
Around 8:22 a.m., a 36-year-old male, identified as Angel Lata Landi of Peekskill, New York, was standing in front of a construction site near Chelsea when a “light-skinned man” with a beard approached him and stabbed him in the abdomen, police said. He was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
More than two hours later, at approximately 10:25 a.m., a second person was stabbed, police said. The victim, a 67-year-old male, was fishing near the East River when he was attacked and stabbed multiple times in the abdomen. Police initially said the victim was 68 years old in an earlier update.
He was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he was also pronounced dead. His identity was still pending family notification, according to the NYPD.
Then, at around 10:55 a.m., a 36-year-old woman, later identified as Wilma Augustin, was stabbed multiple times in the chest and left arm near the United Nations Headquarters, police said. She was transported to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she later succumbed to her injuries.
Police said a cab driver saw what he believed to be a robbery and followed the suspect before flagging down an NYPD officer. The officer took the suspect into custody, where police recovered two bloody kitchen knives and observed him wearing bloody clothing.
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