A man was hospitalized after emergency services were called to the Burlington department store located on the Grand Concourse and East Fordham Road in Fordham Manor on Saturday evening. The man, who was bleeding from the face, entered the store and was helped, store security said.

 

The FDNY / EMS later told Norwood News that they received a call at around 5.22 p.m. on Saturday evening, Dec. 7, for a report of someone who had been stabbed at East Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse. They said one person was later transported by EMS to St. Barnabas Hospital and that his description and condition were unknown.

 

The NYPD later said that at around 5.20 p.m., a 25-year-old man was slashed in the face and stabbed multiple times about the body by an unknown person in the vicinity of the Grand Concourse and East Fordham Road. They said the victim was transported by EMS to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition. They said there are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing.

Later, on the corner of Grand Concourse and East Fordham Road, a section of which had been cordoned off by police, we noticed an older woman who appeared to be recounting something to a female police officer and we later asked if she could tell us what she knew about what happened.

 

The lady, who said she was 70, and who declined to be identified, told us that prior to the incident she had been inside the TD Bank located on the opposite corner of East Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse, using the ATM. “There was another older gentleman in there with me, and there was another man and all of a sudden, as I was finishing my business, I looked up, and he’s at the door screaming incomprehensible words, yanking at the door,” she said.

 

“You can’t open the door unless you hit the exit button when you’re inside” the woman added. “He stopped tugging the door and turned around and went directly to the other gentleman and started beating him with his fits. I ran out of course and some way the guy got away from him, the older man.”

 

The lady continued, “The older man, he came out. As soon as I came outside, I called 911. The perpetrator, the guy who started it all, he ran right over there where that bus stop sign is [on the Grand Concourse in front of TD Bank], and then there [was] a whole group of people. Some kind of altercation took place. I could not see what happened.”

She continued, “Then, the one who started it off got away from them. He ran across the street [towards the median area of the Grand Concourse in front of the military recruitment office, we understand]. Someone tackled him, and they were on the ground fighting. I saw that. Then, I didn’t see him anymore because now, so many people started milling around and the guards inside Burlington told me he ran in there. That’s all I know.”

 

We asked the woman if she could describe the man. She said, “He was young, late 20s, maybe 30s, early…couldn’t really tell. I just saw what he was wearing.” Asked what he was wearing, she said, “He was wearing pink sneakers, shiny, and a gray coat with black sleeves and he had a hood on.”

 

We asked if, in her opinion, the young man appeared to be mentally unstable. “I believe so from the first minute I saw him inside the bank and what he was doing,” she said. Asked if he was thin or if he had the appearance of potentially being high/an addict, she said, “No, he didn’t. He was tall and slender. He had no more bulk or anything like that but he was clothed. He didn’t, you know, appear incapacitated or infirm but he obviously has some mental health issues, because he’s standing at the door yelling nothing that you can understand.”

Asked if she had been scared, the woman said, “I didn’t even think about being scared. I just thought about getting away.” She estimated that the older man who was attacked was in his 60s and was shorter than her. We estimate the lady, herself, was around 5 feet, two inches tall]. She said the older man had been withdrawing money when he was set upon. She said she, herself, had just completed her own transaction and was just checking her receipt when the attack began.

 

We asked if the younger man had tried to steal some cash from the older man, and she said she didn’t see him try to steal any money. “He was just beating on him. He didn’t say a word. I’m not going to suppose anything. I’m just going to tell you what I saw. He just started punching him.”

 

Asked if there had been any security inside the TD Bank at the time, she said, “There was no security. I’ve seen security in there before, but not tonight.”

 

Asked if she felt safe generally withdrawing money at the location, the woman said, “No, I was putting money in! I don’t have any business being out here at night. I’m just so mad at myself. I shouldn’t have been out here. That’s how things happen. He could have easily been punching me! Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten away. I mean, he just bypassed me to start punching the other guy. For whatever reason, I have no idea… God was watching out for me, whatever.”

She continued, “I feel bad for the man because he was defenseless.” Asked if the older man was taken to hospital, the woman said she didn’t know but he did manage to get out on his feet. “Matter of fact, after I walked out the bank, I never saw him again. He got away.”

 

Asked if he had been on the ground at any point, she said, “No, he never fell on the ground, thank God, and someone was coming in; that’s how come I got out so quick. I didn’t have to press the button. The doors are locked from the inside. Someone was at the door for me to escape.”

 

Part of the sidewalk outside the Burlington store was cordoned off by police following the incident, as was another section of the Grand Concourse in the center median, where the military recruitment office is located. We asked one vendor located on the median if she had seen what had taken place. She said she had just heard the victim scream but had been busy working and didn’t see what had happened.

 

When contacted earlier on Saturday evening, the NYPD press office did not, at that stage, have any record of the incident, though officers were seen at the scene securing the area. We will follow up and share any additional information we receive.