The subway rider apparently randomly stabbed by a sick smiling straphanger is a hardworking Manhattan restaurant employee who was coming house from an extended shift when attacked, a pal stated Tuesday.
Roberto Gaspar, 25, was merely trying down at his telephone when the violent stranger approached him from behind on a No. 7 practice on the 111th Road station in Corona, Queens, on Sunday night time, in line with his good friend and police sources.
The unidentified attacker – captured in a surveillance picture smiling broadly – then plunged an “unknown sharp object” as soon as into Gaspar’s neck and twice into his again, cops stated.
Gaspar was taken to New York Presbyterian/ Queens Hospital, the place pal Tomas Calel, 35, instructed The Put up he now is connected to a ventilator, unable to talk.
“He’s critical. He can’t discuss,” Calel stated in Spanish exterior the sufferer’s Queens condo constructing. “He’s within the ICU. He’s hooked as much as machines.
“The medical doctors say perhaps he’ll discuss, perhaps. We hope he recovers and can be capable to discuss.
“I really feel unhealthy for him,” Calel stated. “He didn’t see something. He doesn’t know who did it.”
Gaspar is initially from Guatemala however has been within the US for seven or eight years — working and sending a refund house to his household, in line with his good friend. The sufferer has 4 sisters, certainly one of whom additionally lives within the metropolis, Calel stated.
The sufferer usually works 10-hour shifts 5 days per week at a Manhattan restaurant, the place he “does every thing” from cooking to cleansing to dishwashing – and sometimes takes on a sixth day in busy instances to ship cash house to assist his dad and mom and three different sisters, Calel stated.
Gaspar takes the practice to and from work and was headed house when the incident occurred, in line with Calel.
“I’m offended. He didn’t do something mistaken,” Calel stated. “I consider [the attacker] is a nasty man. Why did he try this? I would like them to catch this man.
“He’s laughing,” Calel added as he appeared on the picture of the gleeful suspect. “He doesn’t care what he did to my good friend.”
He described his badly injured buddy as “a quiet man” who “doesn’t make hassle” and easily goes house to sleep after his lengthy work days.
Calel stated he plans to go to Gaspar within the hospital, the place the sufferer’s sister – who’s “crying so much” and “scared” – was already gathered along with her husband.
Calel, who works at a distinct Manhattan restaurant, stated he’s now afraid to journey the practice at night time.
“Typically I’m going [to work] by practice, generally I’m going by bike. I take the practice at nights, I come house at 10 at nights,” he stated. “I’m afraid to take the practice now as a result of what occurred to my good friend may occur to me, too.”
Anybody with info on the assault is requested to name the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The general public also can submit their suggestions by logging onto the Crime Stoppers web site at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.
