A man who was an up-and-coming soccer player has been identified as the New York City subway rider who was randomly stabbed in the neck and later died on Sunday morning.
Akeem Loney, 32, was attacked while he slept early on Sunday morning as the train was coming into Penn Station at around 12:15am.
Loney was lying down or napping on one of the subway seats at the time of his fatal attack. He was taken by EMS to Bellevue Hospital where he died from his injuries an hour later.
His attacker was seen on surveillance cameras and could be seen running out of the station.
Akeem Loney, 32, was attacked while he slept early on Sunday morning as the train was coming into Penn Station at around 12:15am
New York City police are searching for a man (pictured) who fatally stabbed Loney in the neck while riding the subway early Sunday
The suspect, who was captured on surveillance footage covered in the victim’s blood, stabbed the 32-year-old straphanger in the neck on the No. 2 train before fleeing the scene
The NYPD are now asking for the public’s help in attempting to hunt him down.
The fatal incident comes as New York City experiences a surge in crime, specifically in the subway system.
From the week of November 8 to November 14, transit crimes skyrocketed by 140 percent from the same week in 2020. In the last 28 days, transit crime went up 45 percent from the same period last year, with 186 crimes reported.
According to the NYPD’s latest monthly numbers, overall crime was up 11.2 percent last month compared with October 2020. Robbery was up by 15.8 percent and felony assault rose by 13.8 percent.
Loney was taken by EMS to Bellevue Hospital where he died from his injuries an hour later
Akeem Loney is pictured with his coach Reed Fox who described him as ‘one of the best street soccer players I’ve ever seen.’
‘He wanted to be around the game. He wanted to play, he wanted to coach. He was really nice. I spent a lot of time with him,’ Fox, right, recounted. ‘He was a great guy. It’s hard to believe.’
‘He was unbelievable,’ Reed Fox, Loney’s former coach said to the Daily News.
‘He was one of the best street soccer players I’ve ever seen — and I’ve seen a lot of street soccer players. … He could do things with the ball I’ve never seen people do in my life,’ Fox said in a tribute.
Loney would work with the footballing charity organization Street Soccer USA and use his footballing talent to reach out to vulnerable communities. He worked jobs at restaurants but hoped to to play soccer professionally.
‘He wanted to be around the game. He wanted to play, he wanted to coach. He was really nice. I spent a lot of time with him,’ Fox recounted. ‘He was a great guy. It’s hard to believe.’
Fox revealed how thought Loney may have been homeless and living on friends’ couches after having a falling out with a cousin he had been living with.
‘He was between jobs. He wasn’t documented, which was part of the problem for him and something that we always struggled with, with him. He bounced around, but he had a large community of friends. Most of them were through soccer, and a lot of them were Jamaican guys and Caribbean guys.’
Police are now on the hunt for Loney’s killer who is described as 5’9″ tall, weighing 185 pounds and having a medium build.
In surveillance footage he was seen to be wearing white baseball cap, and black face mask, a gray jacket and white shirt with an orange-and-black checkered hood and black pants.
Preliminary investigation revealed the victim did not know or provoke the suspect
Sunday’s attack comes after a man was hospitalized Saturday after being slashed across his face in a subway station.
The victim was headed southbound on the A train in Greenwich Village.
The train was stopped at the West 4th Street – Washington Square Station in Manhattan.
It’s unclear what led to the incident but the man was slashed across the face. A suspect has not yet been identified.
There was no word on the man’s condition as police hunt for the attacker.
The spike in overall lawlessness comes as the city grapples with an increase in visible, violent crime, including horrific subway and street attacks that have left New Yorkers terrified.
A man was hospitalized after being slashed across the face in Greenwich Village Saturday
The stabbing occurred inside the West 4th Street – Washington Square Station in Manhattan
Earlier in November, a man wearing a grinning mask inspired by the film The Purge attacked a stranger on the street with an ax. The 51-year-old victim was taken to a nearby hospital with a deep cut in his arm.
Days later, a man threw a Molotov cocktail into a Brooklyn bodega after an argument with employees. The workers escaped as the arsonist was about to throw a second one, but he was stopped by a witness.
An Asian woman was waiting for a subway in Times Square last week when police say a homeless man snatched her purse and shoved her onto the tracks.
The violent attack took place just before 1:45pm on the uptown R subway platform.
Witnesses immediately jumped into action and detained the suspect until police arrived to arrest him.
That came just a few days after a New York City subway rider waiting for a train Monday was shoved onto the tracks in the latest unprovoked attack on a straphanger as crime on the public transit system continues to soar.
The latest New York City crime statistics shows overall crime is up year-over-year
According to the NYPD’s latest monthly numbers, overall crime was up 11.2 percent last month compared with October 2020
The harrowing incident took place in Lower Manhattan about 5:30 am inside the Chambers Street station, where a 45-year-old man was pushed off the No. 1 train platform and onto the subway tracks by a deranged stranger.
The stunned victim was able to pull himself back up onto the subway platform before any trains approached.
Authorities said he was treated at the scene for minor injuries, including a small cut.
Meanwhile, gun violence in the borough has significantly increased, with 28 percent more shootings reported this year as compared to last, according to police data.
Lame-duck Mayor de Blasio this month blamed the courts for New York City’s skyrocketing crime numbers as he touted a small decrease in the murder rate while ignoring an 11 percent jump in overall crime over October 2020.