Deranged Man Arrested After Stabbing Two Teens in Grand Central Restaurant
The suspect, Steven Hutcherson, who also went by the name of Estebon Esono-Asue, had a history of mental illness and at least 17 prior arrests. Even after his arrest for stabbing a 16 year old girl and her 14 year old girl in the Christmas day attack inside Grand Central Terminal, his rampage continued when he was remanded to Rikers Island. He was accused of stabbing another victim there.
| 30 Dec 2023 | 01:40
Tartnery Restaurant inside Grand Central was the scene of an attack by an apparently deranged black man who stabbed two teen tourists on Christmas Day.
A 16 year old girl and a 14 year old who were visiting from Paraguay with their family, were stabbed while seated in a French cafe inside Grand Central Terminal. (
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Even after a deranged 36-year-old man who had stabbed two teens on Christmas Day in Grand Central Terminal, was brought to Rikers Island, his outbursts continued with another stabbing attack on another inmate.
For his Christmas Day attack at the Tatineary French cafe, prosecutors charged Steven Hutcherson, who also went by the name Estebon Esono-Asue with seven counts including attempted murder as a hate crime, assault and endangering the welfare of a child for stabbing two teens who were visiting New York and sitting with their family at the time of the attack.
He was chanting that he “wanted all white people dead.” Police said he had asked to be seated at a table in the cafe Tartinery but said he was not going to order anything. He reportedly pointed at the victims family and insisted they had not been ordering anything either.
He returned a short time later. When a waitress attempted to seat him and gave him a glass of water, prosecutors said he told the staffer, “I don’t want to sit with the black people. I want to sit with the crackers.”
He then stood over the family that he had initially pointed at, took out a knife and stabbed one teen in the back and stabbed her sister in the leg.
MTA police responded quickly and both the teens were rushed to Bellevue Hospital. The more seriously injured 16-year-old girl is being treated for a collapsed lung, prosecutors said. The 14-year-old girl had a deep puncture wound in her leg.
The teens were visiting from Paraguay, according to ABC News.
Police sources told the New York Post that Hutcherson had 17 prior arrests and that the DA had pushed for him to be incarcerated. A former girlfriend told the Post, “I called police all the time and said he’s bipolar, he needs help, he might kill someone.” She said he was a stalker who suffered from paranoid delusions.