The man suspected of stabbing a tourist in the head with a steak knife in Midtown turned himself into police on Wednesday.
Washington Heights resident Steven Tlapanco, 20, was charged with attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon for the alleged stabbing of 23-year-old Connor Rasmussen, a tourist from Washington state. Rasmussen, who had traveled to the city to propose to his girlfriend, was walking with three friends in search of pizza when the random attack occurred.
Tlapanco allegedly walked up behind Rasmussen while he and his friends were walking on 46th Street near Vanderbilt Avenue and plunged a steak knife into the base of Rasmussen's skull around 1:40 a.m. on December 18th.
"I never heard the guy, I never heard anything—next thing you know, I'm just getting hit," Rasmussen told CBS New York after the stabbing occurred. He added that he locked eyes with the suspect, later identified as Tlapanco, before both he and the stabber ran in opposite directions. "As I'm running, I'm freaking out," Rasmussen said. "I pull my hand out and look—it's a freaking knife, like a steak knife in my hand that I just pulled from my head."
Rasmussen and a friend whose face was scratched after she was allegedly punched by Tlapanco reported the incident to police and were taken to Bellevue Hospital. Neither victim sustained serious injuries, but Rasmussen reportedly needed eight stitches to close the wound.
"It was a two-inch gash," Rasmussen's grandmother Linda Colon told the Daily News after the attack. "If it would have been two inches or an inch on either side, from what the doctors said, it would have killed him."
The NYPD released surveillance video and photos of Tlapanco last week which showed him entering the 47-50 Street Rockefeller Center subway station after the alleged stabbing occurred.
A police source told Gothamist that Tlapanco was aware police were looking for him and surrendered with an attorney. Tlapanco has no prior criminal record in New York, police said.
"That's a nice gift," Rasmussen told the Post of his attacker's arrest. "I'm really relieved to hear that. It's a great relief it's not going to happen to anyone else anytime soon. It brings closure to this." Rasmussen is reportedly getting his stitches out tonight.
