A 16-year-old student was walking to school in Queens Wednesday morning when a man wearing a surgical mask and gloves came out of nowhere and slashed her with a box cutter. The victim is a Chinese exchange student at Whitestone Academy; she is now in stable condition after surgery at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
According to police, the attacker said nothing. “Once he slashed her, he ran off to parts unknown,” NYPD detective chief Richard Boyce told reporters, adding that she had been slashed “once from the ear to her throat, the middle of her throat, and another part of her face as well.”
“This is right near the Cross Island Expressway, where it hits the Whitestone Expressway.”
Police haven’t identified the suspect yet, and they just released security-video footage of the incident in an effort to do so. His face isn’t visible in the short video — which shows him running behind the girl — because he was wearing a hoodie.
Her aunt told the New York Post that the victim had been carrying a cup of hot chocolate and was only a few minutes away from school. “There was so much blood,” she said. “We hope he gets caught.”
