treelizard

Notice that he didn't feel the knife, and the lack of eye contact. Anything else coming up for anyone?

Houstonian barely survives knifing
A homeless man admitted to the attack on New York subway, police say

By ZEKE MINAYA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The trip had been planned for more than a year. Christopher McCarthy and his girlfriend, Ganda Krisananuwatara, had booked hotels, rented cars and contacted friends in preparation for a 12-day jaunt through the Northeast.

"They were so excited," said Ganda's mother, Poolsin Krisananuwatara, from Houston.

Tuesday, however, on only the fourth day of the vacation, Poolsin Krisananuwatra got a call from her daughter in hysterics, she said.

"She sounded very shaken, she was crying and I couldn't get any words from her," she said.

Without a word and without a reason, a homeless man had plunged a 3 1/2 -inch blade into McCarthy's chest as the couple were trying to find their way on a New York City subway.

''I was like, 'What just happened?' " Ganda Krisananuwatara, 20, told the New York Times on Wednesday. ''I looked over at my boyfriend. He said, 'The guy just stabbed me.' "

Police arrested a homeless man Wednesday in the stabbing of four people in Manhattan, including McCarthy, who was critically wounded in the subway.

McCarthy, 21, was in critical condition after barely surviving the deep wound to his chest, doctors said.

Joe McCarthy said his son had forgiven the assailant and hopes the attacker ''can get help."

New York City investigators said the attacker, who was identified as Kenny Alexis, was sitting across from the couple at about 4 p.m. on the last car of a subway heading downtown on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

The police said the man did not make eye contact with the couple, and McCarthy's father said his son had deliberately avoided the man's gaze.

Marcus McCarthy, the victim's uncle, said he was shocked when he received the news Tuesday.

''I was surprised, especially that it happened early in the day like that," he said. He described his nephew as a ''passive, intellectual type of guy."

Charges were pending against Alexis, who had been living in a shelter. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Alexis admitted stabbing McCarthy and two others.

Two of the four victims were Canadian tourists who were stabbed Wednesday morning near a Times Square hotel. Police said the two women were each stabbed in the back about 4 a.m. by a man who had engaged them in a short conversation near the W Hotel.

An hour earlier, a 30-year-old man was stabbed twice in the stomach a few blocks away as he and a friend waited on a subway platform in Rockefeller Center. Police said the attacker was after a cell phone.

The three attacked Wednesday are in the hospital and are expected to survive.

Kelly said investigators recovered the knife used in at least two of the attacks when they arrested the suspect.

Ganda Krisananuwatara told the Times she and McCarthy had planned a two-week vacation in New York.

"Everyone was so excited," Krisananuwatara said. "They told me to take pictures — now I'll have the most terrible story when I get back."

McCarthy thought he had been punched, but the knife blade went about an inch into his chest, piercing the right ventricle of his heart.

Krisananuwatara's mother said she will be joining her daughter in New York today. "I cannot imagine how she has handled all of this," she said.

She said the couple began dating their final year at Langham Creek High School.

"Chris is very soft-spoken, very helpful and caring," Poolsin Krisananuwatara said. "He doesn't speak much, but he has a big heart."

McCarthy is a computer technician. His parents own Computer Medics in Katy.

The attacks drew comparisons with the 1990 killing of a 22-year-old tourist from Utah who was stabbed in a subway station while defending his mother during a robbery. Seven youths were convicted in the murder; all were sentenced to maximum terms of 25 years to life in prison.

Some tourists said New York still feels safe.

''There are a lot of police around. I don't think these stabbings are just random acts," said Scott McCoig, 24, of Detroit.

McCoig said he will still use the subway. ''It's the best way to travel," he said.

Staff writer Anita Hassan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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akio123

nice story

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darrianation

On the surface it sounds like it was a sudden onset encounter "ambush" but there were some warning signs...he (the homeless person) made the victim uncomfortable, evidenced by aversion to his gaze, etc.

However that said, somethime peole attack for no reason (other than some perverted reason in their own mind) just walk right up to you and shoot, stab, or punch you etc.

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Tant01

Yeah, contradicting your observations about this report the article says "McCarthy thought he had been punched" and that he told his girlfriend "The guy just stabbed me" Also that he had avoided the "gaze" of the attacker. So the lack of eyecontact was by choice. He was obviously being looked at by his attacker, sized up as a potential victim before it actually happened...The victim's Father said his son had deliberately avoided the man's gaze.



I think he chose his victims well enough... Passive or unaware types are easy targets... Something it seems all the victims had in common? Now the homeless guy has free meals and board for the rest of his life maybe or at least a few years...

I hate random unprovoked acts of violence!

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"In all countries where personal freedom is valued, however much each individual may rely on legal redress, the right of each to carry arms - and these the best and the sharpest - for his own protection in case of extremity, is a right of nature indelible and irrepressible, and the more it is sought to be repressed the more it will recur."

James Paterson

darrianation

I have often heard victims say "I thought the guy just punched me". But in reality it was a knife. Yet, another illustration of how many folks don't see the knife before being stabbed or even knew they were stabbed until the fight (or assault) was over for that matter.

Folks as much as possible need to keep an reactionary gap between themselves and others they don’t know (difficult in a place like the subway especially when crowded). Folks need to watch or pay attention to the hands, belt lines and pockets of those folks around them and pay attention to their behavior and what their attention is focused on…and lastly listen to yourself. If you think something is out of place, making you feel odd, or something just isn’t right, act on those feelings by being extra vigilant, leaving the area, or positioning your self to better scan your environment, etc. This is getting into the importance of the pre-fight.

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treelizard

SHE said he told her he was stabbed, but people often remember things differently. It sounds to me like HE just thought he was punched.

Lack of eye contact I mentioned. There was a long thread about this, when to make or not make eye contact. This article proves avoiding eye contact won't protect you.

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Tant01

I have said before that being cut feels like being hit... Some only learn the difference after the fact.

Yup, this is true. If you think you're being sized up you need to let the potential attacker know you are AWARE of him (or her) and READY to deal with them. Not to challenge them or try to dominate them or intimidate them but not to be afraid to look directly at them...

__________________

"In all countries where personal freedom is valued, however much each individual may rely on legal redress, the right of each to carry arms - and these the best and the sharpest - for his own protection in case of extremity, is a right of nature indelible and irrepressible, and the more it is sought to be repressed the more it will recur."

James Paterson