A 300-pound, knife-wielding maniac went on a bloody rampage in Queens yesterday, stabbing an elderly couple and a young woman simply because they crossed his path, cops and witnesses said.
PHOTOS: MANIAC STABS 3 IN QUEENS
The victims were taken to New York Hospital-Queens, where 71-year-old Joan Purcell was in critical condition.
Her husband, John Purcell, 78, and the third victim, Juhn Fook, 41, were listed in serious condition. All three had been stabbed in the torso, cops said.
The mayhem erupted at 9:40 a.m. when enraged suspect David E. Williams – a hulking, 6-foot-1 giant known in the neighborhood as “Big Dave” – emerged from his building on Northern Boulevard in Flushing.
The Purcells had just stepped out of their building next door when for no apparent reason Williams attacked them with a serrated knife, authorities said.
“They walked out of the elevator and they were stabbed,” said a witness.
Williams then attacked Fook, who lives around the corner.
A fourth victim, Veraj Maraj, 37, took a punch in the face from Williams after a brief exchange of words, authorities said.
“He just walked up to me and swung. He was yelling that I called him a n—–,” Maraj said.
“I left the building to get away from him and he kept following me. I turned the corner and told a traffic agent to call the police.”
When cops arrived, they and Maraj began looking for Williams and soon spotted him holding a blood-soaked knife.
Williams obeyed officers’ orders to drop the knife, but put up a fight when they tried to arrest him, cops said.
The suspect was described as emotionally disturbed.
Before his rampage, he had been involved in a family dispute, police sources said.
Neighbors said they believed Williams had psychological or psychiatric issues. They claimed his mother had refused to seek treatment for him.
Neighbors said the Purcells have lived in their building for more than 25 year and have a son who is a Marine.
Additional reporting by Murray Weiss, John Doyle and CJ Sullivan