A man was killed and two others were wounded in a stabbing in Manhattan’s East Village on Sunday afternoon, according to police, who said they took a 30-year-old man into custody at the scene.

The incident unfolded around 5:45 p.m. near Avenue A and East 14th Street, right across from the sprawling Stuyvesant Town apartment complex.

NYPD officials said police received 911 calls about multiple stabbings and arrived at the scene to find a 38-year-old man stabbed in the neck, a 51-year-old woman stabbed in the leg and a 32-year-old man stabbed in the back.

First responders took all three victims to Bellevue Hospital, where the 38-year-old was pronounced dead. Police said the woman was listed in critical condition and the 32-year-old was listed in stable condition.

The NYPD said officers recovered a “cutting instrument” but is still investigating what spurred the stabbings.

Police said Alejandro Piedra, 30, of Brooklyn, was arrested on Sunday and charged with murder, attempted murder and depraved indifference. Attorney information for Piedra was not immediately available. It was not clear how the suspect was related to the three victims.

The 9th Precinct, which includes the East Village, has recorded no other homicides so far this year, NYPD data shows. Last year by this point, there had been one homicide in the precinct.

Though deadly violence remains rare in the neighborhood, local leaders and elected officials said they want more police and other official patrols to address crime, congestion, substance use and alleged illegal vending that have proliferated on East 14th Street since the pandemic.

“We've seen drug deals, we've seen knives and other implements,” said Susan Steinberg, president of the Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association. “It's just really awful and a lot of the residents are very nervous or scared to go on 14th Street.”

She added that a nearby flea market has drawn unlicensed vendors to congregate and sell their wares on 14th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A.

City Councilmember Keith Powers, who represents parts of the East Side, also said street vending has been a problematic factor among other quality-of-life issues on the block, including homeless encampments and drug dealing inside the 1st Avenue subway station.

“During COVID particularly, it started to slip a lot,” Powers said, calling for a fuller response by the city to bring more order and safety back to the block. “We've seen the [police department] out there doing foot patrols, but what we had for a very short moment in time, what we need back is just a dedicated patrol car on that block, dedicated officers who can stay there and address all issues at all times."

Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who represents the East Village, the Lower East Side and other Manhattan neighborhoods, said in a statement that she has been in touch with the NYPD, Bellevue Hospital, the Department of Sanitation, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and the Archdiocese of New York, which oversees a Catholic church on the block, to address the conditions.

“Just moments before the incident, the NYPD approached multiple aggressive individuals transient to the area, and have identified the individual involved as an emotionally disturbed person with a record of assault,” she wrote. “We will continue to work with them and the Bellevue Street Health Outreach and Wellness Mobile Unit to support those with mental health issues.

Police were also still looking on Monday for a suspect who allegedly stabbed a man to death at a bodega in Queens on Saturday night after the two got into an altercation. Officials said the suspect, who was last seen wearing a gray t-shirt with goldfish on the front and black sweatpants, fled east on Jamaica Avenue.

Some bodega owners are calling for more government assistance with small business security following the incident.

This story has been updated with additional information.