Hospital greeter nabbed in NYC stab spree charged with attempted murder

The suspect nabbed for a bloody nine-day stabbing spree through Queens is a 27-year-old hospital greeter now charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, cops said Thursday.

Jermain Rigueur is facing attempted murder, assault and weapons possession for allegedly randomly attacking five people, laughing in the face of one of them, cops said.

Police have also linked Rigueur to a broad-daylight stabbing on the J/M/Z platform at the Myrtle Ave.-Broadway train stop in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning though he has not yet been charged with that attack.

The station, on the border of Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant, is far from the Queens attacks but close to his job at Woodhull Hospital. He is clearly caught on video entering the station, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said Thursday.

“He was seen pacing in the train car prior (to the attack),” Kenny said at a press conference at NYPD headquarters Thursday. “He stood over the victim and as the train doors opened on Flushing Ave. he plunged a knife into his victim’s chest and simply walked off the train.”

The 19-year-old victim was taken to Woodhull Hospital — where Rigueur works, cops said.

The stabbing suspect has been connected to six attacks, Kenny said. All but one were completely random.

“He didn’t indicate any reason for the attacks,” Kenny said, adding that Rigueur has no criminal record and no indication that he suffers from a mental illness.

The Brooklyn stabbing happened about two hours after a 74-year-old man and a 41-year-old man were stabbed in Queens, cops said.

Rigueur, who recently moved from Suffolk County on Long Island to the neighborhood in the Springfield Gardens and Rochdale Village area where the Queens stabbings took place, is a greeter at Woodhull Hospital in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

A lanyard spotted around his neck on a surveillance video turned out to be his hospital ID, the source added. He was wearing it when cops took him into custody.

Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and chief executive officer of the city’s Health and Hospital’s Corporation, said Rigueur had been hired in mid-November and was still being trained as a greeter.

“He never worked independently and his orientation was still ongoing,” Katz said, adding that since his arrest Rigueur has been “placed on administrative leave.”

NYPD cops grabbed Rigueur at his new home Wednesday night after painstakingly tracking surveillance video of his movements from the attacks to his home, which he shares with a handful of roommates, police said.

When cops stopped him, Rigueur admitted that his weapon, a hunting knife, was in his backpack. Cops are awaiting a court order to open the backpack and process the hunting knife, Kenny said.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban called the stabber a “menace” Wednesday evening and vowed a quick arrest in the stabbing spree, which began on Jan. 8.

Caban stood by Mayor Adams’ side Thursday to announce the arrest.

“A violent criminal is off our streets because of good old fashioned police work,” Caban said, noting that dozens of detectives — a minimum of two from each Queens precinct — were called in to join the manhunt. “Ultimately it came down to chasing down leads, knocking on doors and talking to people.”

Adams said the stabbing spree “sent real fears throughout our city.”

“You have a chilling incident when a person chooses to randomly assault people,” Adams said. “It sends the wrong message to New Yorkers.”

Detectives conducted around 1,000 interviews as they tracked Rigueur down, Adams said.

The hospital employee is accused of attacking three victims on Wednesday starting just before 7:30 a.m. near 134th Ave. and Guy R. Brewer Blvd. in Queens, according to cops.

Rigueur first allegedly stabbed a 74-year-old man in the back while he was taking his wife to work, Kenny said. The victim was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was expected to recover.

Minutes later, he targeted 41-year-old Amara Kourouma in the same vicinity.

While Kourouma walked to his car, the stabber passed by in silence, Kourouma told the Daily News Wednesday. Next thing Kourouma knew, he felt a sharp pain in his back.

“I didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t say anything to me. When I pass him, I just felt [it] in my back,” said Kourouma, a professional driver.

Then, around 8 a.m., Rigueur got on a bus at Guy R. Brewer Blvd. and 115th St., where a confrontation unfolded, cops said.

A 36-year-old man on his way to work asked if it was OK to sit next to Rigueur, who initially agreed, according to Kenny.

Both men got off at Archer Ave. and Parsons Blvd., where the victim was stabbed once. He was hospitalized in stable condition.

The 36-year-old victim was stabbed during “an argument over a seat” Kenny said, adding that this was the only stabbing that wasn’t completely random.

Between the morning stabbings, Rigueur slashed at a bodega’s windows, according to police.

Just after midnight Tuesday, police say Rigueur stabbed a 34-year-old woman near 134th Ave. and 158th St., steps away from Wednesday’s mayhem.

The victim was walking home when the stranger, who was carrying a large knife in his left hand, stormed up and stabbed her in the side, cops said. Medics took her to an area hospital.

Police soon released surveillance footage of the suspect showing him brandishing the frightening knife.

Cops believe Rigueur is also responsible for stabbing a 61-year-old man in the kidney around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 in Queens.

“In this incident, the suspect actually laughed in the victim’s face after he stabbed him,” said Kenny.

Rigueur was wearing a green jacket, black hoodie and, in some instances, his hospital ID lanyard, a backpack and a surgical mask, cops said. His choice of clothing helped link him to the crimes, Kenny said.

Rigueur’s arraignment in Queens Criminal Court was pending Thursday.

His neighbors were stunned to learn they were living next to a serial stabber.

“I cannot believe that,” said Lynae, 27, who has lived on Rigueur’s block for nearly two years. “It’s just really scary because you never know. We think that we’re safe but we’re not really safe. We think that everyone’s ordinary, just a regular person, and then you have someone walking around with a hunting knife. I don’t feel safe anymore.”

With Anusha Bayya