Four killed in US stabbing rampage
Four people have been killed after a graffiti artist armed with five knives went on a bloody 28-hour rampage across New York City, according to police.
Maksim Gelman, 23, fatally stabbed his stepfather, former girlfriend and her mother, before running down a pedestrian with a stolen car and knifing a subway passenger before being arrested in Times Square, police said.
Maksim Gelman was armed with a bloodied kitchen knife when he was taken into police custody at about 9am local time on Saturday after a night-long manhunt from Brooklyn into Manhattan, said police commissioner Raymond Kelly.
"It's so horrendous and bizarre. We have no reason to know why he did this," said Mr Kelly, who held up a photograph of the knife he said Gelman had used to slash the subway rider on the head and neck. The man survived.
"I don't recall seeing anything like this," said Mr Kelly, who has spent decades working for the New York Police Department.
He said charges were pending against Gelman.
Mr Kelly described Gelman as an unemployed drug user with 10 previous arrests, mostly linked to graffiti and drugs.
The commissioner said the suspect's statements to police were "pretty incoherent" - including one in which he stated that "she had to die."
Mr Kelly said he was not sure if that was a reference to the ex-girlfriend or someone else.