NEW YORK – A man grabbed two cordless power saws off a subway station workbench and went on a rampage Thursday, swinging the saws at riders and slicing open a man's chest before running away, police said.
The 64-year-old victim, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Police were searching for the suspect, described by witnesses as a thin man in his 30s, who had earrings in both ears and was possibly carrying a teddy bear.
The attack occurred before dawn at a subway station a few blocks south of Columbia University.
Wielding a saw in each hand, the man took a swipe at one rider on a platform and missed, police said. Moments later, he cut into the man's chest at a turnstile before bolting out of the station, still carrying the power tools, which were later found in a trash can.
Police were reviewing security camera videotape.
The attack came two weeks after a Boston man was charged with stabbing four people — three of them tourists — over a 13-hour period in the subway and the theater district in Manhattan.
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