A suspect was arrested Thursday after his dad convinced him to turn himself in for randomly stabbing a Queens mom at her local bus stop as she was headed to work, officials said.
Luis Emmanuel Valencia Ponce, 18, surrendered to authorities a day after the NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect and asked the public’s help identifying him.
Valencia Ponce’s dad saw the son’s photo in the news and confronted him, convincing him to surrender, cops said.
The 30-year-old victim was waiting at a bus stop near 23rd Ave. and 94th St. in East Elmhurst about 6:15 a.m. Monday when a stranger stormed up and stabbed her in the back and left arm.
“Thank God I’m still here,” the victim, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Daily News from her hospital bed. “I’m surprised this happened to me. I don’t have problems with anyone. I’m a calm person. I’m shy. I don’t socialize like that.”
The victim was taken by medics to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition. She said doctors told her she needed to stay in the hospital for several days so they could treat her wounds, which included several fractured ribs.
Shewas on her way to work at a Whole Foods in Manhattan when she was attacked from behind. Even though her coat and sweater cushioned the force of the blows, the kitchen knife attack still left her with puncture wounds that needed stitches.
”Four times,” she said. “It was so fast. That was the weird part because he didn’t say anything. He didn’t even steal anything from me.”
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Blood on the sidewalk at a bus stop on 94th St. in East Elmhurst on Monday after a random stabbing. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
At the behest of his father, the teen turned himself in at the 115th Precinct stationhouse in Queens just after midnight. Thursday, cops said.
Valencia Ponce lives about four blocks from where the attack took place, cops said. He does not have a documented history of mental illness or emotional outbursts and has no criminal record.
Valencia Ponce’s victim said he attacked her twice.
“The first two times that he stabbed me, I screamed and then it looked like he was about to leave,” she said. “And then he came back and he stabbed me again. I was just bending down.”
“I’m in pain,” she said. “It hurts to breathe. I’m just resting and hope to recover soon and go home. I have children at home.”
Cops charged the teen with attempted murder and assault. His arraignment in Queens Criminal Court was pending Thursday.