Three unprovoked stabbings across Manhattan Monday morning left two men dead and one woman “fighting for her life,” according to the New York City Police Department. A man is in custody, police said.

The suspect is a 51-year-old male who appears to be homeless, police said. The NYPD did not release his name and are not currently looking for any additional suspects.

The suspect has eight previous arrests, with the most recent for grand larceny in October 2024, according to city officials.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said what happened was a “clear example” of how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers.

Adams said during a news conference the investigation will partly look into why the suspect was on the streets, given he was sentenced for a crime a few months ago, and why the man’s “severe mental health issues” apparently weren’t evaluated.

Police said around 8:22 a.m., a 36-year-old male was standing in front of the construction site where he was employed near Chelsea when a “light skinned man” with a beard approached him and stabbed him in the abdomen.

More than two hours later, at approximately 10:27 a.m., police said a second person was stabbed. The victim was a 68-year-old male who was fishing at the water near the East River when he was stabbed multiple times “throughout his body,” police said.

Both men were pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, according to police.

Around 10:55 a.m., a 36-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times “throughout her body” near the United Nations Headquarters, police said.

Police said a cab driver saw what he believed to be a robbery and followed the suspect before flagging an NYPD officer. The officer took the man into custody, where police recovered two bloody kitchen knives and observed him wearing bloody clothing.

The NYPD is not releasing the names of the victims until their families are notified.