New York stabbing: Commuter killed in subway system after row with man about shoes

A man was yesterday during the morning rush hour in the subway system.

John Sheldon, 38, had a dispute with another man who had stepped on the man's shoes, police said. This led to the stabbing, which is the first in the subway network this year after a fall in crime on the network in 2024.

Emergency services swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station in lower Manhattan shortly after 8.30am on Friday. They had received reports of a stabbing, and found the commuter unresponsive on a platform. Mr Sheldon, who was from Brooklyn in the city, had multiple stab wounds to his torso and, though he was dashed to hospital, medics were unable to save the man.

But the assailant remains on the loose, police said. He is described as a man in his 20s or 30s, and was dressed in black and wore black headphones during his journey.

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Police said the two men got into an argument on a train after the other man stepped on Mr Sheldon's shoes. Mr Sheldon was stabbed on the train and in the subway station after the two got off at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall, police said.

Earlier this month, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there had been no homicides in the transit system during the first three months of the year for the first time in seven years. She added that subway crime from January to March had decreased to the second-lowest level in the first quarter in 27 years.

Violent crime is rare overall in the system, which carries millions of riders every day. However, recent high-profile attacks, such as a have left some riders on edge.

Last month, the Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding from the city's transit system if it didn't provide a plan to address crime. City officials responded that there were plans in place to reduce crime on the subways and pointed to statistics showing that crime was down.

The woman who was set on fire on a train burned to death in December. She was set upon by a stranger in what authorities have called one of the "most depraved crimes". Following the arrest of a man, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch praised the people in her city for helping authorities apprehend the person who may be responsible for such a heinous attack. "New Yorkers came through again," she said, before describing the attack as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

Ms Tisch said the suspect and the woman, both of whom have not been identified, were riding a subway train without any interaction between them before the horrific offence.