A man suspected of targeting multiple homeless people on NYC subway, killing 2, was arrested with the knife 'he used on the vulnerable,' police say

• A man has been taken into custody in connection with multiple stabbings in New York City.
• Four people, all believed to be homeless, were stabbed on New York City's A subway line.
• Two of the victims died, while the others are being treated in hospital.

A man was arrested Saturday and charged with murder in connection with at least three separate stabbings within a 24-hour period on one line of the New York City subway system that left two people dead, the New York City Police Department announced Sunday.

Rigoberto Lopez, a 21-year-old from Brooklyn, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and two counts of attempted murder in the second degree by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., police said Sunday.

Lopez was found with the knife that had been used to commit the stabbings, the NYPD said. Police shared a photo of the knife, which they claimed "he used on the vulnerable."

—NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) February 14, 2021

Two victims died from the attacks that occurred along the A subway line, ABC News reported. The assaults happened between Friday morning and Saturday morning, according to NYPD officials.

All victims were believed to be homeless.

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Police believe that three of the stabbings are connected. Whether the fourth is linked to the same suspect is now being investigated, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a press conference on Saturday.

The first assault happened on Friday morning. A 67-year-old man was stabbed at the West 181st Street station in upper Manhattan, police told ABC News. He is currently recovering in hospital.

The second incident occurred later that day. A man was found dead on a subway train in Queens, The New York Times reported.

Two hours later, on Saturday morning, a woman was found unconscious with multiple stab wounds on a train in Upper Manhattan. She was pronounced dead shortly after, the paper said.

The fourth incident occurred just minutes later. A 43-year-old man was found with multiple stab wounds at the West 181st Street station in Manhattan, ABC News reported.

He was operated on at a nearby hospital and is now in a stable condition, according to the report.

NYPD officials responded by deploying 500 additional officers into the subway system, Shea said.