In a harrowing attack, a 28-year-old Muslim woman and a good samaritan were slashed by a stranger while standing on a subway train in Manhattan on Tuesday night, local media reported.
The altercation occurred at around 10:30 pm on the L-train bound for Brooklyn, approaching the 14th Street-Union Square station.
In the details of the incident, the attacker tried to chat with the woman, however, when she ignored him, he grabbed her, made anti-Muslim remarks and cut the side of her face with a blade.
In an act of heroism, 29-year-old schoolteacher John Catania, made a split-second decision to step in and was put in trouble by the offender.
The attacker punched the good samaritan before assaulting them with a knife leaving slashing wounds to their face, the New York Post reported.
The suspect then fled the bloody scene. No arrests have yet been made yet.
The victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital and are reported to be in stable condition.
“I thought it was just punches, but he had a blade on him,” Catania, 29, told the New York Daily News.
“A waterfall of blood came down from my neck. I said, ‘Where’s all this blood coming from?,” he adds.
Catania further added, “I don’t want to act like some hero. I just stepped in. You cannot do that. You can’t lay your hands on anyone like that, especially a woman. I wish I could have done more. “
The suspect, who appeared to be homeless, was described as 6’5″ tall, wearing all black, ABC reports.
