A man with a knife fatally stabbed a woman and wounded another Thursday in an apparently random attack in downtown Pittsburgh, police said.
The woman who was killed died from a stab wound to the neck, Victor Joseph, who heads the Pittsburgh Police Department’s violent crimes unit, said. The other woman was in stable condition, he said.
Moments before the attack began, a police officer was checking on the woman who was killed because he feared she might be in medical distress, Joseph said. As he was checking on her, the assailant struck.
The officer was not able to subdue the man with the knife before he attacked another woman who was passing by.
The officer was eventually able to get the attacker to drop his weapon, and he was taken into custody. The officer then shifted his attention to aiding the women, putting his finger in the first woman’s neck to stop the bleeding.
Joseph said investigators believe the incident was “a random act of violence.” Police do not believe the victims knew one another.
Neither the suspect nor the victims were immediately identified.
