Zohran Mamdani’s NYC: Machete-Wielding Subway Attacker Was a Repeat Offender

Zohran Mamdani’s NYC: Machete-Wielding Subway Attacker Was a Repeat Offender

On what otherwise was a pretty spring morning in New York City, a machete-wielding madman went on a stabbing spree at Grand Central Station.

The man, who police identified as 44-year-old Anthony Griffin, brutally attacked three senior citizens shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday on a subway platform, before eventually being shot by police after refusing offers of help and repeatedly failing to comply with orders to drop the machete.

The suspect called himself “Lucifer” as he commenced with the attacks:

A criminal slashed three elderly people with a machete — while calling himself “Lucifer” — in an unprovoked attack and was fatally shot by cops at Grand Central Terminal Saturday morning, police said.

An 85-year-old man suffered a deep cut across his head, and a 65-year-old man suffered cuts on his head on the 4, 5, 6 subway platform at the iconic station at 9:50 a.m., police said. A 70-year-old woman was slashed in the shoulder, cops said.

Blood-soaked white gauze was wrapped around one victim’s head, photos from the scene show. The slasher was also seen being carried away on a gurney.

As of this writing, the three victims, who reportedly have non-life-threatening injuries, are said to be in stable condition. Griffin died at the hospital.

This appears to be a non-embeddable video of the suspect filmed at a distance after police took him down. Warning: the video appears to contain a blood trail.

Below is the weapon police say was used in the attack:

This was the weapon recovered at the scene. pic.twitter.com/J1gxyECKm3

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 11, 2026

BREAKING: Witness tells @PIX11News that NYPD shot a man who wouldn’t drop a knife after slashing two people in Grand Central Station this morning – 4, 5 and 6 line. pic.twitter.com/teSSiMjLkk

— Eileen Lehpamer (@EileenLehpamer) April 11, 2026

Gotham has fallen.

A machete wielding slasher with 13 prior arrests who calls himself ‘Lucifer’ on a bloody rampage in Grand Central Station

“An 85-year-old man suffered a deep cut across his head, and a 65-year-old man suffered cuts on his head on the 4, 5, 6 subway platform… https://t.co/XXt2Xa1Igj

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) April 12, 2026

Anthony Griffin, the "maniac" (as described by the @nypost) who slashed three elderly people with a machete — while calling himself “Lucifer” — in an unprovoked attack at Grand Central Terminal this morning, and was shot dead by the police. Griffin had 13 prior arrests, including… pic.twitter.com/fntGFdwRsL

— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) April 11, 2026

There’s conflicting information on how many prior arrests Griffin had, with the NY Post initially saying he had 13 before updating to simply note that one of his priors “includes one for menacing with a sharp object.” The NY Times reported that he had three priors:

Ms. Tisch said that the man who died, Anthony Griffin, 44, had been arrested three times before in New York City, but did not have a history of mental illness documented with the police. He called himself Lucifer after the attacks, she said.

[…]

Douglas Miller and his wife, Jody Kelley, who live in Manhattan, had been heading to the uptown 4, 5 and 6 platform on Saturday morning on their way to the Guggenheim Museum after buying tickets two weeks in advance to visit the museum’s Gabriele Münter exhibition. When they approached an escalator leading to the station, they saw a metal barricade and officers ordering people to leave the area.

“Another day in New York,” Mr. Miller said as he and his wife walked toward the 51st Street subway station.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (DS), a defund the police proponent, issued this canned statement in response:

I have been briefed on an incident that occurred at Grand Central Station this morning. Reports indicate a man slashed three people on the platform with a machete. Officers shot the man when he did not drop the machete. He has since been pronounced dead.

I’m grateful to the NYPD for their quick response and for preventing additional violence. The three victims were taken to the hospital and are thankfully in stable condition. The NYPD is conducting an internal investigation and will release body-worn camera footage, as it does in all incidents involving the discharge of an officer’s firearm.

As did Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who left out a victim in her statement:

New Yorkers deserve to feel safe every time they step onto a train platform, and we will do everything it takes to protect them.

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) April 11, 2026

Reaction to soft-on-crime Democrats was, understandably, not kind:

The leftists running NYC- Mayor, DA and his prosecutors- they make decisions every day to let maniacs like this roam free. Their job is to make New Yorkers safe, but they choose violence against the innocent over punishment for the guilty every time https://t.co/IUtTIUicBq

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) April 12, 2026

It's not hard. It's not mysterious.

Stop unleashing violent criminals on our streets in the name of asinine "racial justice."

This would require you to have a spine and/or be an effective leader, so excuse me for not holding my breath. https://t.co/HnhcyDNT5k

— Adam Hintz (@SojuConnoisseur) April 11, 2026

"…We will do everything it takes…."

Except incarcerating criminals after they've been arrested 5-10 times and have made it crystal clear that they will keep committing crimes as long as there are no consequences. https://t.co/76HRnJ02cX

— Roy Hinkley (@Truth_n_facts1) April 11, 2026

The broader investigation here should be why yet another recidivist unstable individual was free to harm three people before being shot himself. https://t.co/lr4Tcur7oK

— Nicole (@nicolegelinas) April 11, 2026

Undoubtedly, for some folks, this crime brought flashbacks to another machete attack in NYC, where a violent career offender with 45 prior arrests used a machete in January 2025 to attack a man, who lost four of his fingers in the assault. Fortunately, the victim survived:

NYC machete attack suspect has 45 prior arrests — and was just charged with hit and run that left cancer survivor dead https://t.co/Wz1pCp8Aw6 pic.twitter.com/D60g7nWXOA

— New York Post (@nypost) October 12, 2025

One X user even asked of the suspect in the Saturday attack, “Will he be dining at Gracie Mansion soon?” If Griffin were still alive, I wouldn’t put it past the mayor to invite him. I truly wouldn’t.

– Stacey Matthews has also written under the  pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.