Suspect in NYC stabbings eerily smiled at first victim after random attack: ‘Turned to look

A maniac accused of randomly stabbing multiple people with a hunting knife in Queens flashed a menacing grin at his first victim after slashing him in the back earlier this month, the man told The Post on Wednesday.

The 61-year-old grandfather said he was on his way to the laundromat on Jan. 8 when he was allegedly attacked by 27-year-old Jermain Rigueur.

The victim initially thought the deranged stranger had simply punched him until he felt the blood “dripping down his pants.”

“I felt the weight but I thought he had punched me hard in my back,” recalled the victim, who did want to be identified.“After he stabbed me he passed, turned to look at me and smiled.”

The man was the first of at least five victims in Queens terrorized during the stabbing spree over the past two weeks, police said.

A suspect in the case was taken into custody Wednesday after a manhunt by the NYPD.

The victims, who police say were stabbed with a hunting knife, all survived their wounds following the attacks. Authorities are also looking into whether Rigueur also assaulted a victim in Brooklyn.

The victim was walking on 137th Avenue in Springfield Gardens when he “felt the presence of an individual” walking behind him. When he reached the corner of 157th Street and 137th Avenue, he crossed the street.

“As I was crossing I saw two shadows. I saw another shadow behind me,” the victim explained. “It appeared the person was walking fast because his shadow was close. I moved further to my left-hand side. I didn’t turn to see who it was. 

“I just wanted to get out of the way for him to pass and so I moved to the left further to the edge.”

The assailant ran toward the victim’s back as he crossed at the intersection and stabbed him, though the man didn’t know right away he had been knifed.

The victim then saw a bystander and asked if he saw the person who just punched him — then he felt the blood.

“Then I felt a warmness dripping down in my pants,” the victim recalled. “I asked the man on the phone to pull my clothes up. He said, ‘Oh wow, you got a big wound on your back and you are bleeding. I gotta call 911.’”

Police quickly responded and kept pressure on the wound before medics arrived and brought him to the hospital. He has since made a quick recovery and can play with his granddaughter again.

The first victim was stabbed on Jan 8., and then this week four more victims were targeted by the same suspect, according to authorities.

Another victim, Shaneka Anderson, 34, said she was walking home from work just after midnight Tuesday when the fiend also snuck up behind her. Rigueur allegedly stabbed her and then ran off, leaving in her in shock and wheezing.

The same assailant then stabbed another three victims Wednesday morning, police said.

“It’s a terrible thing that we have people like that that can walk around and stab you,” the first victim said Wednesday. “It should not be like that. Suppose he had stabbed me like that and I just died?  It’s all on my family. My family depends on me a lot.”

Still, he stressed he has “no malicious feeling” toward the stabber, describing him as a “sick person. When he heard police had someone in custody, he said, “I’m glad he is off the streets and can no longer hurt anybody else.”

“I forgive him already,” he said.