Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jermain Rigueur was arraigned today for attempted murder and assault following a two-day stabbing spree in Springfield Gardens and Jamaica during which four people were attacked, including three within an hour on Wednesday.

District Attorney Katz said: “New Yorkers peacefully going about their business very nearly lost their lives in unprovoked knife attacks. We will not allow people to be targets of random violence without consequences. I applaud the NYPD for quickly taking the defendant into custody, enabling us to prosecute him on multiple counts of attempted murder.”

Rigueur, 27, of 160^th Street in Springfield Gardens, was arraigned a on 19-count complaint charging him with three counts of attempted murder in the second degree, three counts of assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree, eight counts of assault in the second degree and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

If convicted, Rigueur faces up to 90 years in prison. Queens Criminal Court Judge Marty Lentz ordered Rigueur to return to court on January 31.

According to the charges and video surveillance footage:

• On Tuesday, at approximately 12:05 a.m., Rigueur was closely following a 34-year-old woman as she walked home before stabbing her in the torso near 158^th Street and 134^th The victim was treated at a local hospital for internal bleeding.
• Shortly afterward, at approximately 12:13 a.m., Rigueur, holding a large fixed-blade knife, tapped on the window of Gas City Smoke Shop on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in a stabbing motion.
• On Wednesday, at approximately 7:21 a.m., Rigueur stabbed a 74-year-old man in the back as he walked with his wife on 134^th Avenue near Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. The victim underwent surgery to his abdomen at a local hospital.
• Minutes later, at approximately 7:25 a.m., near 137^th Avenue and 160^th Street, Rigueur approached a 41-year-old man and swung a knife at his chest. Rigueur missed the man’s chest, but stabbed the victim in the lower back over his spine. The victim received stitches at a local hospital.
• About a half hour later, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Rigueur was riding an MTA bus and became engaged in a dispute with a passenger over a seat. As Rigueur and the man exited the bus at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue, Rigueur repeatedly swung a knife at the man. When the victim fell to the ground, Rigueur attempted to stab him. The victim suffered a puncture wound to his back and was treated at a local hospital.
• Yesterday, at approximately 6:35 pm, a search warrant was executed for the contents of the backpack Rigueur was wearing at the time of his arrest the day before. A six-inch fixed blade Bowie knife and a blood-stained sweatshirt were recovered.

Assistant District Attorney Brendan J. Quiñones of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Bureau Chief and Roni C. Piplani, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.