Who Is Steven Hutcherson? Man Accused of Christmas Grand Central Stabbing

A 36-year-old man has been accused of attempted murder as a hate crime following the stabbings of two teenagers in Grand Central Station, New York.

Steven Hutcherson has been charged by police as a suspect after two sisters, visiting from Paraguay, aged 14 and 16, were attacked as they ate with their parents at Tartinery in the Grand Central Dining Concourse at around 11:30 a.m. on Christmas morning.

Police said Hutcherson became angry when staff told him he couldn't sit near the teens. They said Hutcherson, who is Black, stabbed the 16-year-old in the back and the 14-year-old in the thigh and shouted: "I want all the white people dead. I want to sit next to the crackers," before surrendering to police.

The 16-year-old suffered a collapsed lung. The two sisters were taken to Bellevue Hospital. A worker at a nearby hotel where the girls were staying told the New York Post the teens were released later that day.

Newsweek contacted the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Metropolitan Transport Authority Police (MTA Police) by email to comment on this story.

Hutcherson, who is also known as Esteban Esono-Asue, is known to MTA police and NYPD as an emotionally disturbed person with 17 previous arrests.

He has been charged with felony counts of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degree, attempted assault in the first degree, and endangering the welfare of a child.

He has been arrested twice in the last six months, including last month when he threatened 46-year-old Yussif Abdullahi with a knife in the Bronx on November 7 after Abdullahi allegedly saw him attack a woman.

"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."

"They shouldn't have let him out [of jail]. I don't believe it," Abdullahi told the New York Post.

In that case he pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and was sentenced to conditional discharge on December 12.

In October, he also pleaded guilty to weapons possession and was sentenced to 15 days in jail over a July incident.

He was also arrested on October 2 and charged with smashing a display case at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, causing $81,000 in damage. He pleaded guilty to second-degree menacing and was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

Following the stabbings, Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement: "Any time you have incidents in these high profile locations, it sends the feeling of people don't feel safe, that's why we have to make sure we zero in, make the arrests as soon as possible and make sure we get those repeat offenders off the streets."