A 36-year-old woman died, police said Tuesday, becoming the third victim killed in an unprovoked stabbing spree in Manhattan allegedly carried out a day earlier by a man with a history of mental health issues who felled people just going about their morning routines.
Ramon Rivera, a 51-year-old who officials say records show has an extensive criminal history, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the case, which rocked the five boroughs as it unfolded Monday.
Surveillance footage showed the suspect, who was later identified as Rivera, place a purple backpack on the sidewalk. He pulls out a hooded sweatshirt, puts it on and takes out some gloves. He readjusts his hat. Then come the knives.
Police said the first stabbing occurred at 8:22 a.m. on West 19th Street in Chelsea, when a 36-year-old man was knifed in the abdomen outside a construction site where the victim was working. He was pronounced dead at a hospital and later identified as Angel Lata Landi, of Peekskill.
About two hours later, officers responding to a 911 call of a man stabbed on East 30th Street found a 67-year-old with multiple stab wounds to the abdomen. That victim, later identifed as Chang Wang, also died at a hospital. Police said Wang had been fishing along the East River when he was attacked.
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Just 30 minutes after that came the third attack, a woman stabbed near 42nd Street and First Avenue. The 36-year-old, Wilma Augustin, of Manhattan, initially was taken to a hospital in critical condition with stab wounds to her chest and left arm. She later died of her injuries.
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Augustin was a migrant living in a midtown shelter with her young son, according to one of her neighbors.
Rivera was apprehended a few blocks from that scene, found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives, authorities said. Police believe the suspect did not take public transit or a vehicle between the stabbing locations. A law enforcement source told NBC New York Rivera confessed to the stabbings, allegedly telling police he targeted victims who were alone and preoccupied at the time.
"An 8-year-old child does not have their own mother. I don’t know how you explain that to an 8-year-old child. I just have to find a way to speak with him, and explain what happened," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The suspect has "severe mental health issues" that need examination and there are questions about why he was out on the streets, Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Monday. The mayor said the mental health system continues to "fail New Yorkers."
The horrific and unprovoked stabbing spree called attention to potential cracks in New York's criminal justice and mental health systems. Rivera has previously been arrested eight times in New York City in the past year, including seven felonies and one misdemeanor, records show. He also has been arrested in Ohio and Florida.
He was released from Department of Corrections custody on Oct. 17 for time served on burglary and assault charges, according to city records. At the time of Monday's stabbings, Rivera was on bail in an open case of grand larceny, accused of taking property from a Manhattan store later on Oct. 17, the day of his release.
Rivera also was arrested three times in Hudson County, New Jersey, in January and indicted by a grand jury all three times, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. The charges in those cases included criminal mischief, theft and burglary, according to the indictments.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Hudson County said he was released on pre-trial monitoring, based on the charges and related guidelines from the Criminal Justice Reform Act. Bench warrants were issued for his failure to appear post-indictment.
A source familiar with Rivera's case history told the I-Team that Rivera was not on the radar as a particularly dangerous person in recent years, though he had made some trips to the psychiatric units, including at Woodhull Hospital, for suicidal and homicidal thoughts. However, Rivera was never was kept for more than 72 hours because he would usually get sober or stabilize, then be released.
Sources said his mental health issues became more apparent when he was in Rikers serving a year sentence for burglary. On more than one occasion, Rivera was sent to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric treatment. While at the hospital in May, city officials said Rivera kicked a correction officer and smacked her across the face.
Rivera was arraigned Tuesday and ordered held behind bars, with the judge noting his criminal history. The sister of victim Angel Lata Landi was in the courtroom for the hearing, saying she was "proud that he died while working."
Landi was also helping raise his 16-year-old nephew, whose mother had passed away.
"He was basically my father. He always told me to be good, to get along in life, to be better than him," said the nephew, who did not wish to be identified.
During Tuesday's arraignment, the public defender for Rivera asked for a mental health evaluation. His attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources with the Manhattan DA's office said at one point that prosecutors "raised the potential to screen Rivera for a treatment court," but his attorney declined. The DA's office was also unaware of any requests for a court-ordered psychiatric exam to determine Rivera's fitness for trial.
When asked what role they played in decisions about previous sentences for Rivera, the city's Department of Correction referred question to the courts system, which did not return a request for comment.
Rivera's next scheduled court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
