A homeless man wielding a long metal bar rampaged through New York City's Chinatown early Saturday attacking other homeless people who were sleeping, killing four and leaving a fifth with serious injuries, police said.
Police recovered the weapon, which was still in the suspect's hands when he was arrested, officials said.
"The motive appears to be, right now, just random attacks," Chief of Manhattan South Detectives Michael Baldassano said, adding there was no evidence yet that the victims were "targeted by race, age, anything of that nature."
"No one knew him by name, but we saw him every day," Miller said. "At this point, I'm just sad. This guy never did anything. Just had a life to live. It sucks that he's out here in the rain and everything, but it doesn't mean he doesn't have a life to live."
"I never thought he would kill someone," she said. "I was afraid of him, though, because he punched me. That's when I told him to get out of my house."
"When I told him to leave, he came back and threatened me," the suspect's mother said. "He said when I go back to Santo Domingo, he'll get people to cut my face."
De Blasio tweeted Saturday that he's "stunned and horrified by this senseless act of violence against the most vulnerable members of our community."