The mentally ill homeless man accused of slashing two strangers and slapping a third within minutes of each other at a Queens subway station freely admitted his crimes when questioned by police, prosecutors said Saturday.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Tyquan Manassa told detectives when shown video images of the suspect on the Manhattan-bound E train platform in the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station on Wednesday afternoon.
Manassa, 27, also told investigators that he attacked the three strangers because he was “having a bad day,” a police source with knowledge of the case said.
He’s accused of slashing two men and slapping a third within a 15-minute explosion of fury on the train platform, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
“This random violence is every commuter’s worst nightmare, and we will aggressively prosecute those who cause mayhem on our mass transit system,” Katz said. “(These) victims were simply waiting for the train in Kew Gardens when this defendant approached them and — without provocation — slashed them both in the face.”
Katz thanked the good Samaritans “who rushed to aid their fellow commuters immediately after this senseless attack.”
Manassa is facing multiple counts of assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon. If convicted, he’s facing up to 25 years in prison.
Queens Criminal Court Judge Anthony Battisti ordered Manassa held on $200,000 bail during a brief arraignment hearing Friday night.
The homeless man, who was living at a shelter on Randall’s Island, was on the train platform at around 3:10 p.m. when he stormed up and repeatedly struck a 42-year-old man with a knife, cutting his ear and forehead.
He then slapped a bystander in the face before running off down the platform, where he struck Kew Gardens resident Carlos Plasencia, with a knife, cutting him above his eyebrow.
Plasencia, 50, was on his way to work at a Manhattan restaurant when he was attacked.
“He was yelling, ‘What’s up? What’s up?’ He looked like he was high, and he was just attacking people for no reason,” Plasencia told the Daily News. “At that point … I just thought, ‘I have to make it home. I have to be home.’ I’m a father of four, so you know, I was just trying to make it home.”
Doctors used seven stitches to close the gash above Plasencia’s eye. Manassa’s first victim needed 16 stitches, prosecutors said.
Manassa ran off, but cops collected surveillance footage of the attacker, asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward.
Within a day, Manassa was arrested for criminal mischief inside the Randall’s Island shelter where he was staying, a police source said. As officers took him into custody, they realized he was wanted for the slashing spree.
Police said Manassa has been arrested over a dozen times dating back to 2014, mostly for misdemeanor assaults and criminal mischief.
He also suffers from mental and emotional outbursts, the police source said, adding that, over the years, cops have been repeatedly asked to bring him to a hospital for psychological evaluations. It was not immediately clear if he has a diagnosed mental illness.
