Police arrested a man for a fatal stabbing on a Coney Island N train last week.
Zhongqiang Chen, 32, was taken into custody around 7 p.m. Thursday for allegedly stabbing and killing 54-year-old Timothy Rudolph, who was riding the subway at around 11:30 p.m. when he was attacked after an argument, police said.
NYPD officials said Chen was homeless, the men were strangers to each other and the motive for the stabbing was still unclear.
Officers found Rudolph with a stab wound to his back, sitting on the corner seat of the N train at the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue subway station. He was pronounced dead at NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn. Police said he lived in the Bronx.
Chen was charged with second-degree murder and was awaiting arraignment Friday in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Information for his lawyer was not immediately available.
Chen’s arrest comes as police are still searching for the suspect who shot a 47-year-old man on the Upper West Side Thursday, then ran into the subway system.
Bystander video obtained by the New York Times shows passengers ducking for cover under subway seats as police searched for the shooter – though no one was injured underground, officials said.
Data released Thursday by the NYPD shows that major crime in the city’s subway system continues to decline compared to last year, with 112 fewer incidents reported in 2024. During the month of October, 168 crimes were reported in the system that regularly transports around 4 million people.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have deployed additional NYPD officers and National Guard soldiers into the subway system over the last two years to bring down transit crime, which increased during and after the pandemic.
This story is based on information from police and may be updated.
