3 Teens Arrested In Lower Manhattan Subway Slashing Spree: Police

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — Hours after multiple straphangers were slashed across the face for no apparent reason while riding the subway in Lower Manhattan, three teenagers were arrested Friday night and Saturday morning in connection with the violent attacks.

Taquarious Soto-Burgos, 19, Joseph Foster, 18, and an unnamed 16-year-old were charged with multiple counts of robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York Police Department. The 16-year-old, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was also charged with assault.

Police are still searching for a fourth suspect in the Lower Manhattan subway attacks.

Additional details around the slashing spree were revealed this weekend in court appearances for two of the three teenagers arrested in connection to the Friday attacks that left five people injured and hospitalized.

According to the Daily News, prosecutors have "information that the defendant's violent crime spree on innocent New Yorkers was part of a gang initiation," said Assistant District Attorney Katherine Byrns during an arraignment for the 16-year-old on Sunday.

The attacks happened over a 12-minute span starting just before 4:30 a.m on Friday.

At 4:26 a.m. three of the teenagers walked up to a 44-year-old man on a southbound 4 train at the Union Square station and slashed him on the left side of his face, according to police. The victim ran off the train and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, police added.

Police said that the three teens remained on the train and attacked a second man in his 40s and again slashed him across the face at 4:34 a.m., just nine minutes after the first attack, according to police. The group reportedly then repeatedly punched a different 41-year-old man in the head.

Both victims were able to get off at the Astor Place station and receive medical attention, according to police.

The teenagers followed this up by attacking a 44-year-old man inside the same southbound 4 train, police said. The victim was slashed in the face and also had his money and cell phone stolen, according to police.

The teens proceeded to switch to an uptown D train, where they did their best to rob a sleeping 48-year-old man, according to the Daily News. The man fought back though and it led to the 16-year-old stabbing him in his left eye.

Byrns said the man lost his eye because of the injury, reported the Daily News.

The three teenagers were arrested hours later when they were found sleeping on an uptown 1 train at around 10 a.m.

Read More: 4 Attacked, 3 Slashed As Spate Of NYC Subway Violence Continues