Police have identified the man behind a brutal Manhattan stabbing of a homeless panhandler over the weekend in a bloody altercation sparked over a request for spare change.
According to Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, the NYPD Warrant Squad is on the lookout for 55-year-old Devin Ferguson, who allegedly got into an argument with the 50-year-old homeless victim at around 11:14 p.m. on June 21 near the corner of East 29th Street and 2nd Avenue in Kips Bay.
Ferguson was leaving a nearby bodega, police said, when the 50-year-old victim (whose name has been withheld) asked him for some change.
“It seems that [the victim] may ask him for some change, where the perpetrator tells him to, ‘Get a job, you f**king junkie.’ The perpetrator walks away after some words are exchanged,” Chief Kenny said during a Tuesday press briefing on the case.
The incident didn’t end there, however; an eyewitness to the incident, a bouncer at a nearby bar, stated that he saw Ferguson allegedly make his way to a nearby hardware store, retrieve a box cutter, and return to make an attack.
“I didn’t see how they first interacted, but they started arguing — it came close to blows. The guy walked past and said something like, ‘Get a job,’ and then he went to the hardware store over there,” the bouncer recalled in statements made to amNewYork Metro. “A few minutes later, he came back with a box cutter and immediately attacked the guy.”
Chief Kenny revealed on Tuesday that Ferguson worked at the hardware store and was able to retrieve the weapon. Ferguson allegedly returned and viciously slashed the victim across his face, hands, and arms.
The gruesome attack left a blood-covered crime scene, with the victim’s blood smeared over the sidewalk and even nearby parked cars.
“It was premeditated. I heard the box cutter just drop and he ran off,” the bouncer added. “He [the victim] was bloody, man.”
The victim was treated at Bellevue Hospital for his injuries, police said. Officers from the 13th Precinct responded to the incident.
Witnesses told police that Ferguson had a heavy Caribbean accent and was last seen wearing a blue shirt.
Anyone with information regarding the incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
