The Springfield Gardens man who became the target of a citywide NYPD manhunt on Wednesday for a two-day stabbing spree in southeast Queens was criminally charged with attempted murder and faces up to 90 years in prison if convicted.
Jermain Rigueur, 27, of 160th Street, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on a 19-count complaint Friday charging him with three counts of attempted murder and assault for attacking four people in Springfield Gardens and Jamaica, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
According to the charges and video surveillance footage, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at approximately 12:05 a.m., Rigueur followed a 34-year-old woman as she walking home before stabbing her in the torso near 158th Street and 134th Avenue. The victim was treated at a local hospital for internal bleeding.
On Wednesday, at approximately 7:21 a.m., Rigueur allegedly stabbed a 74-year-old man in the back as he walked with his wife on 134th Street near Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. The victim was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition.
Minutes later, at approximately 7:25 a.m., near 137th Avenue and 160th Street, Rigueur allegedly approached a 41-year-old man and swung a knife at his chest. Rigueur missed the man’s chest, but stabbed the victim in his lower back over his spine. The victim was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he required stitches.
About a half hour later, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Rigueur was riding an MTA bus and became engaged in a dispute with a passenger over a seat. As Rigueur and the 36-year-old man exited the bus at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue in Jamaica, Rigueur repeatedly swung a knife at the man. When the victim fell to the ground, Rigueur went to stab him.
The victim suffered a puncture wound to his back and was transported by EMS to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition.
Police nabbed Riguer late Wednesday and arrested him. On Thursday, at approximately 6:35 p.m., a search warrant was executed for the contents of the backpack Rigueur was wearing at the time of his arrest. A six-inch fixed blade Bowie knife and a blood-stained sweatshirt were recovered.
“New Yorkers peacefully going about their business very nearly lost their lives in unprovoked knife attacks,” Katz said. “We will not allow people to be targets of random violence without consequences. I applaud the NYPD for quickly taking the defendant into custody, enabling us to prosecute him on multiple counts of attempted murder.”
Rigueur, a greeter at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, is also charged with multiple counts of assault and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Queens Criminal Court Judge Marty Lentz ordered Rigueur held without bail and set his next court date for Jan. 31.
