A McDonald's worker was stabbed in the neck on Wednesday, only one block away from where a Burger King employee was fatally shot in January.
A spokesperson for the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Newsweek that the incident occurred inside of the McDonald's location at 2142 3rd Avenue in East Harlem at around 12:40 a.m. ET on Wednesday. The incident comes nearly two months after a Burger King employee was fatally shot just one block away from the McDonald's.
When NYPD officers arrived to the McDonald's location, they found a 31-year-old male employee "with multiple stab wounds," all over his body.
"EMS responded to the location and transported the victim to NYC Health & Hospitals/Harlem, in critical condition," the NYPD spokesperson told Newsweek.
According to the NYPD, a preliminary investigation revealed that an unidentified adult male entered the McDonald's and became engaged in an altercation with an employee. Another employee, the 31-year-old male, attempted to diffuse the altercation between the man and the other employee, police said. In the process, the 31-year-old was stabbed in the back and arms with a box cutter. The victim was also slashed in the face by the box cutter, police said. The NYPD spokesperson told Newsweek that the suspect fled the scene with a ski mask westbound on East 117 Street.
"The suspect, described as a male with a dark complexion, approximately 6 feet tall, thin build, wearing a dark green jacket," police said. "There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing."
The area has recently seen an uptick in crime. In January, the NYPD reported that 19-year-old Kristal Bayron-Nieves was fatally shot at a Burger King located at 154 East 116 Street. According to the NYPD, 30-year-old Winston Glynn was arrested in connection with the incident. Glynn previously worked at the Burger King location where the crime occurred and allegedly was attempting to rob the fast-food restaurant when he fatally shot Bayron-Nieves.
Following Glynn's arrest, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, "We have been saying this over and over again, there's too many guns on our streets." Adams also called the incident "personal," and noted that Bayron-Nieves was shot after she complied with Glynn's demands to give him money from the register.
According to data from the NYPD, crime in the city's 25th precinct—where both the stabbing and fatal shooting occurred—has been on the rise in recent weeks. The data shows that on the week ending on March 6, there were 28 total crime complaints, including 10 felony assaults. In comparison, during the same week in 2021, there were only nine criminal complaints.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
