An 18-year-old Queens man was arrested after he allegedly stabbed a woman at an East Elmhurst bus stop and then tried to flee the country days later, police said.
Luis Emmanuel Valencia Ponce was taken into custody early Thursday morning and charged with attempted murder and two counts of assault, according to a police spokesperson.
The attack happened around 6 a.m. Monday near 23rd Avenue and 94th Street. A 29-year-old woman was waiting for a bus when a man approached her from behind, pulled out a knife and stabbed her multiple times in the arm, police said. The man then fled on foot.
The woman was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where she remains in stable condition, officials said.
Police released a surveillance image of the suspect and asked the public for help identifying him. Valencia Ponce’s father recognized his son and contacted police, authorities said.
Around the same time, Valencia Ponce went to JFK Airport and tried to board a flight to Peru without a boarding pass, according to police. Port Authority officers arrested him after he became disruptive and took him to a hospital.
Authorities later connected him to the stabbing and transferred him to NYPD custody, where he was formally charged early Thursday, police said.
Police said the attack appears to have been random and that the suspect and victim did not know each other.
It was not immediately clear whether Valencia Ponce has an attorney. He was expected to be arraigned on Thursday evening.