A man on his way home from work was stabbed in the face by a stranger in an unprovoked attack in a Brooklyn subway station, the victim told the Daily News Monday.
Mamadou Li, 26, was returning home from his job as a kitchen supervisor when the stranger stabbed him on the underside of his chin without ever saying a word about 5:55 p.m. Sunday.
“I got off the train on my way home and took a couple steps forward and some guy just snuck attacked me,” Li told the Daily News in an exclusive interview Monday.
Li had just stepped off an East New York–bound C train inside the Rockaway Ave. subway station in Ocean Hill when the stranger stabbed him with a sharp instrument, cops said.
Medics took Li to Brookdale University Hospital in stable condition.
”It’s a traumatic incident. I’ve been released from the hospital so it’s more so working on the mental side of it,” Li said. “The physical side, I think, will be okay.”
After the stabbing, the attacker hopped on the C train Li had just exited, according to Li.
Li, who has lived in New York for most of his life, is now scared of taking the subway but says he has no choice.
“It’s the main mode of transportation, but there’s definitely some paranoia building up and some fear that I have to continue to deal with,” he said.
“I consider myself very lucky and very grateful,” the injury wasn’t worse, he added. “For me, it was wrong place, wrong time. For somebody else, it might not be the same thing.”
The attacker has not been caught, police said.
“It happened to me, it could happen to anyone,” Li said. “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Felony assaults in the subway have increased 11% from last year, with 461 attacks so far in 2026 compared to 417 by this time last year, NYPD stats show.