Teen tourists stabbed at New York’s famous Grand Central Terminal on Christmas

Two teenage tourists have been stabbed while enjoying a Christmas morning meal with their parents in New York.

A troubled vagrant randomly stabbed two teenage tourists enjoying a Christmas morning meal with their parents in New York — after ranting that he wanted “all white people dead,” authorities said.

The girls, 14 and 16-year-olds visiting from South America, were attacked at a Grand Central Terminal restaurant around 11:25am Monday, local time, and suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds, police and sources said.

They were eating at Tartinery in the Grand Central Dining Concourse, New York Post reports.

“I want all the white people dead,” the suspect, Steven Hutcherson, 36, allegedly yelled, according to police sources. “I want to sit next to the crackers.”

He then allegedly lunged at the unsuspecting teens, plunging a knife into the 16-year-old’s back, nicking her lungs, and stabbing the younger girl in the thigh, police and a law enforcement source said.

The famous Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan where two tourists were stabbed on Christmas. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

Hutcherson — who cops and sources said has a slew of prior arrests and a history of mental health issues — had gotten into a fight with restaurant staffers who were trying to kick him out of the eatery shortly before he allegedly went on his rant and attacked, local TV station WABC-TV reported.

Nearby transit police officers rushed over in less than a minute and Hutcherson dropped the knife as soon as they arrived, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said.

“Everyone was just running,” a veteran MTA employee who witnessed the incident said Tuesday, calling the scene “chaotic.”

Hutcherson was booked on felony counts of attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and misdemeanour endangering the welfare of a child, according to the MTA.

He was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

New York City Fire Department Emergency Medical Services (FDNY EMS) took the girls, who sources said were staying at a nearby Midtown hotel, to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for their injuries.

A hotel worker said the teens were released from the hospital later that day, and “are OK.”

The station is a popular site for tourists to visit as it has appeared in many famous films and television shows. Picture: AFP / Ludovic Marin

Hutcherson has 17 prior arrests on his rap sheet, sources said. He also has been classified as an “emotionally disturbed person” in prior brushes with police, according to the law enforcement sources.

Prior to Monday’s incident, he was last arrested November 7 for allegedly threatening to “shoot” a stranger in the Bronx.

“I’m gonna shoot you. I don’t care what kind of green card the government gave you,” he said, according to the criminal complaint against him. “Open your mouth and say something. I will shoot you right now.”

He then pulled what the victim believed was a gun “from the side of his pants,” according to the complaint — though law enforcement sources said cops didn’t find a firearm on him but did recover a knife.

Hutcherson was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, harassment and assault.

He pleaded guilty December 12 to a lesser charge of third-degree assault, a misdemeanour, and was sentenced to conditional discharge.

New York is a popular Christmas destination for tourists. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is expecting roughly 14 million travellers to pass through its airports, bridges and tunnels between December 21 and January 2. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

“DAs [district attorneys] are chopping all the charges down. Judges are letting him go. Now we’ve got two teenagers who were stabbed,” a law enforcement source said.

His arrest last month followed an earlier guilty plea on October 27 to misdemeanour weapon possession charges — for which he was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

That case stemmed from a July 24 arrest, also in the Bronx, for which he had also been charged with resisting arrest, according to court records.

Police sources said he walked in to the 44th Precinct stationhouse acting belligerent and that cops found a dagger and a switchblade when they arrested him after escorting him out.

Sources said Hutcherson also had two recent incidents in which police were called over reports of erratic behaviour in the Bronx — screaming on a street in Mt. Hope on November 23 and a September 11 dispute at the 176th Street subway station, during which he was stabbed.

The MTA said the investigation into the latest incident was ongoing.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Kyle Schnitzer and Snejana Farberov

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission