Man with machete fatally shot at NYC’s Grand Central after slashing attack, NYPD says

A man armed with a machete slashed and injured three people Saturday in New York’s Grand Central neighborhood before being shot and killed by police, officials said.

The New York Police Department said officers encountered the gunman on the 4, 5, 6 subway platform at Grand Central-42nd Street around 9:40 a.m. after a civilian alerted them and they found a victim suffering from self-harm.

The man, identified as Anthony Griffin, 44, was armed with a large knife and “behaved erratically, repeatedly stating that he was ‘Lucifer,'” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Griffin refused numerous commands to drop the knife and advanced toward officers before being shot, Tisch said. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.

“The individual refused to comply with at least 20 orders to drop the knife. The officers also attempted to calm the situation and offer assistance by saying, ‘We’re going to ask you for help,'” the commissioner said.

The shots appeared to be random, investigators said.

Tisch said Griffin boarded a Manhattan-bound 7 train on Vernon Boulevard in Queens around 9:30 a.m. When the train arrived at Grand Central, it struck an 84-year-old man on the platform, then went upstairs to platform 4, 5, 6, where it struck a 65-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, she said.

The victims were hospitalized with serious injuries, but their lives are not expected to be in danger, Tisch said.

The NYPD issued an alert to avoid the area around Grand Central and the MTA said trains 4, 5, 6 and 7 were bypassing the station due to the investigation.

“No officers were injured in this incident and the entire incident was captured on body worn camera. This remains an active investigation and we will provide additional information as it becomes available,” Tisch said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement: “I am grateful to the NYPD for their quick response and for preventing further violence. The New York Police Department is conducting an internal investigation and will release body-worn camera footage, as it does in all incidents involving the discharge of a firearm by an officer.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had also been informed of the incident and was “grateful to our courageous officers who acted quickly to arrest the suspect.”