A 30-year-old man was randomly slashed in the neck in an unprovoked attack by a New York City homeless man, police said.
The assault took place just before 5:30 p.m. Thursday near the Astor Place Cube statue in East Village, the New York Post reported.
The victim was approached from behind at Lafayette Square and Cooper Avenue before being cut in the back of the neck with an “unknown sharp object,” police described.
Witnesses at a nearby coffee shop described the horrifying attack to ABC7, saying there was a pool of blood on the ground and “nothing is safe anymore in New York.”
The unnamed victim was forced to rip off his own shirt to help slow down the bleeding from his gushing wound before he was transported to a hospital, the Post reported.
The suspect fled the scene before police arrived, but 35-year-old Steven Johnson was finally arrested on Saturday and charged with attempted murder and assault:
Johnson’s last known address is a Midtown homeless shelter, cops told the Post.
Another witness told ABC7 that the assault was completely unprovoked.
“Right before, nothing. Yeah, no altercation. Just exploded out of nowhere,” Michael Picardi told the outlet.
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