Man fatally stabbed on NYC subway after arguing with rider who stepped on his shoes, police say

NEW YORK (AP) — A man was stabbed to death during the morning rush hour in the New York City subway system Friday after a dispute with another rider who had stepped on the man’s shoes, police said, adding it was the first homicide in the subway this year.

Police and medical personnel responded to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station in lower Manhattan shortly after 8:30 a.m. for a 911 call about a person being stabbed. The victim, 38, was found unresponsive with multiple stab wounds to his torso and brought to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

He was later identified by police as John Sheldon of Brooklyn. He had been mistakenly identified by police earlier in the day as Sheldon John.

Authorities said they were searching for the other rider, who they described as in his 20s or 30s and who was dressed in black and wearing black headphones.

Police said the two men got into an argument on a train after the other man stepped on Sheldon’s shoes. Sheldon was stabbed on the train and in the subway station after the two got off, 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 woman being set on fire and people being shoved onto the tracks, 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.

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This story has been corrected to show that the victim’s name is John Sheldon, not Sheldon John as the New York Police Department said earlier.