CORONA — Police have caught the man they say slit the throat of a man in a Manhattan homeless shelter on Friday, then went on to slash a livery cab driver in an attempted robbery the following day, officials said.
William Smith, 53, was arrested Monday and charged with murder for the grisly slaying of a 55-year-old man at the 30th Street Men’s Shelter, NYPD officials said.
UPDATE: William Smith, 53, has been arrested. https://t.co/ojC0tIf8nZ
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 18, 2016
The details of Smith's arrest were not immediately clear.
Police said they believe Smith was responsible for the fatal attack at the 30th Street Shelter in which the victim was found lying on his bed with his throat slit, covered in blood and with the room “in disarray,” according to Assistant Chief William Aubry, head of the NYPD's Manhattan South detective squad.
► Read more: City Shelter Where Man Was Murdered Has No Security Cameras, Residents Say
Police have not yet released the name of the victim, pending family notification, but news reports described him as a Brazilian-born man who sometimes sold loose cigarettes to fellow shelter residents.
The day after the attack, police said Smith got into a cab shortly before 3 a.m. at the 103rd Street-Roosevelt Avenue subway station and drove him to a Holiday Inn on Van Cleef Street near Horace Harding Expressway. When they arrived at the destination, Smith attempted to rob the driver, according to a police report.
Smith then slashed the driver on his back and neck and fled on foot, but left behind a phone card, phone and wallet in his haste to escape, police said.
Authorities took the driver to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition, according to a report.
Smith has a rap sheet dating back to 1991 for crimes including attempted robbery, forgery, and burglary, according to public records. He was most recently paroled in 2014 after serving the minimum two years of a two-to-four year sentence for burglary, according to Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records.
