By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-05 19:25:33 | Updated at 2025-01-07 09:23:28
1 day ago
The alleged madman accused of separately stabbing two straphangers in the subway last week has been arrested — carrying the “large knife’’ he allegedly used in the violence, police and sources said Sunday.
Jamar Banks — a 52-year-old with at least 87 prior arrests and a history of mental illness — was nabbed by the NYPD Warrant Squad around midnight at the 219th Street station in The Bronx and brought to the NYPD’s Transit Bureau District 2, police sources said.
He was carrying what had been described by police as a “large knife,” which he allegedly used in the attacks, sources said.
He is being held on charges of first-degree assault and third-degree weapons possession, cops said. He refused to say a word when asked about the stabbings by The Post as he was walked out of the transit district in cuffs Sunday.
Banks is a frequent flier on the No. 2 and No. 5 subway lines, according to a message sent to police officers before his arrest and obtained by The Post. He was nabbed at a station on the lines.
Officers were warned that they should use “extreme caution” approaching the suspected criminal because he might be carrying the attack weapon.
Banks was wanted for allegedly stabbing a 31-year-old man on a No. 2 train at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan on Wednesday after arguing with his victim, cops said.
He is also suspected of starting another argument with an off-duty MTA cleaner about 6 a.m. Thursday, then knifing his victim in the back and armpit on the northbound No. 6 train platform at Pelham Bay station in The Bronx, police said.
The attacker fled after both stabbings. Both victims were taken to hospitals in stable condition.
Banks’ rap sheet includes arrests for alleged attempted murder, weapons possession, assault, criminal trespassing, turnstile jumping and petty larceny, police sources said.
