Updated on: April 11, 2026 / 11:40 PM EDT / CBS New York
A man armed with a machete slashed and injured three people at New York City’s Grand Central on Saturday before being fatally shot by police, authorities said.
The NYPD said officers encountered the armed man on the 4/5/6 subway platform at Grand Central–42nd Street at about 9:40 a.m. after a civilian alerted them and they located a slashing victim. The man was identified as 44-year-old Anthony Griffin. Officials said he was armed with a large knife described as a machete and was “behaving erratically, repeatedly stating that he was ‘Lucifer,'” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Griffin refused numerous orders to drop the knife and advanced toward officers; one officer fired two shots, Tisch said. Griffin was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. Tisch said officers issued at least 20 orders to drop the weapon and attempted de-escalation, including offering help. No officers were injured. The whole incident was captured on body-worn camera, and the NYPD said it is conducting an internal investigation.
Police said Griffin had three prior arrests. Investigators believe the slashings were random.
Tisch said Griffin boarded a Manhattan-bound 7 train at Vernon Boulevard in Queens around 9:30 a.m. and, when the train arrived at Grand Central, slashed an 84-year-old man on the platform. He then went upstairs to the 4/5/6 platform and slashed a 65-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman. The victims were hospitalized with serious injuries but were not expected to be life-threatening; one suffered a skull fracture and severe lacerations. Officials said the victims did not know one another.
The NYPD issued an alert to avoid the area around Grand Central, and the MTA said 4, 5, 6 and 7 trains were bypassing the station during the investigation; passengers were given bus vouchers. Subway service at Grand Central later resumed.
“This is exactly why we recently increased our presence in the transit system,” Tisch said, noting the department added more than 175 officers to subway patrol. Transit advocate Charlton D’Souza of Passengers United urged more mental-health resources at transit hubs, saying clinicians and psychologists are needed to help people and to reduce trauma that deters riders from using the system.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani thanked the NYPD for its quick response and said the department will release body-worn camera footage, as it does in all officer-involved shootings. Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was briefed and was “grateful to our brave officers who acted quickly to stop the suspect.”
Andrew Ramos and Kristie Keleshian contributed to this report.
