A steamfitter was killed on a New York subway train in what appears to be a random act of violence.
Tommy Bailey, 43, was a union steamfitter riding home on the Brooklyn L train on Friday night when the incident occurred.
Mr Bailey's girlfriend and his friends told the New York Daily News that he was generally cool-headed and conflict averse.
“It’s just crazy,” his girlfriend, Ivy Reddin, 36, told the paper. “It was shocking. [I’m] still trying to get it together. I would never think that would happen to him.”
Mr Bailey leaves behind two teenaged children.
According to police, Mr Bailey was riding on the train when he and another rider got into a disagreement. A man described as wearing a grey sweatshirt and wearing gold teeth allegedly used a sharp object to slash Mr Bailey's neck once.
“He was having a dispute with somebody — I don’t know if they were mentally ill or whatever. Nowadays you can’t even bump somebody because they will be ready to flip,” Ms Reddin told the New York Daily News.
He was rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
"I'm still trying to get through this, it's not even making any sense," Omari Barnett, one of Mr Bailey's friends, told NBC News. "It's just a dangerous world we're living in."
He said that his friend, Mr Bailey, "would try to avoid a confrontation before he gets into one."
“This is the last thing that would happen to him,” Mr Barnett said. “He just goes to work. He’s not looking for trouble or getting into fights.”
MTA Communications Director Tim Minton said the agency has identified "dozens of cameras that the NYPD believes may assist in the investigation" and that it would continue to cooperate with the NYPD.
No arrest has been made in the killing.
Though the number of subway murders has remained largely unchanged since last year, the number of major felonies has increased by nearly 50 per cent since 2021.
