NEW YORK — An oft-arrested homeless man wordlessly shoved an unsuspecting stranger to her death beneath a Times Square subway train Saturday morning, then quickly confessed to the heinous attack, police and law enforcement sources said.
The subway rider was randomly targeted around 9:30 a.m. by Simon Martial, 61, as the woman waited for the R train in the Times Square-42nd St. station, a high-ranking police source said. There was no indication that the pair spoke or had any interaction before the deadly attack, and the 40-year-old Asian woman was pronounced dead at the scene, cops said.
“I pushed a woman in front of a train,” the suspect told police after surrendering without incident, according to a second source. The suspect has a documented history of mental health issues with the NYPD, the second police source added, and there was no indication that the killing was a hate crime.
Mayor Eric Adams appeared at the station scene shortly after Martial boarded another train and fled downtown before surrendering and admitting to his crime at Transit District 2 in the Canal Street station, said a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case.
The bearded and balding suspect, with 10 arrests since 1998, was briefly imprisoned after a 2018 robbery of a gypsy cab in Greenwich Village and then placed on parole that expired last year.
Manhattan subway users were stunned and terrified as word of the latest subway system attack spread in its aftermath.
“Oh my goodness, it’s so scary,” said Ruby Meng, 30, a regular subway rider. “I’m so afraid of this. I just try to pay attention to my surroundings.”
Rider Roxanne John, 46, said she knew something terrible happened when she entered the station and spotted the large police presence.
“It could’ve been me, it could’ve been anyone, I feel frightened,” she said. “The only time I feel safe on the train is when I see the cops ... I feel scared now.”
Martial said nothing as he was taken to a Midtown police station for questioning.
“Wow, just wow,” said subway rider Brandon Lewis, 41, who takes the train every Saturday to a farmers market. “I’m very disheartened about this. This city is starting to disassemble itself.”
Transport Workers Union Local 100 Vice President Canella Gomez said the shaken subway operator was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment after the fatality.
“No train operator comes to work expecting to have a passenger thrown in front of his or her train,” she said. “This is the part of the job that no one is ever truly physically, mentally or emotionally prepared for.”
She also called for the new administration at City Hall to come up with a plan to handle the homeless situation in the city’s mass transit system.
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