2 teen girls injured in Christmas Day stabbing at Grand Central Station

NEW YORK — A pair of South American sisters visiting the U.S. with their parents were stabbed Christmas Day as the family ate lunch at Grand Central Station.

The girls, ages 14 and 16, were attacked shortly before 11:30 a.m. Monday at Tartinery, a café in the dining concourse, WABC-TV reported.

The younger girl suffered a stab wound to the thigh. The 16-year-old girl was stabbed in the back and the blade of the knife nicked her lung, the news station reported.

Both girls were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

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Officers with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were nearby at the time of the attack, and a suspect was in custody within 30 seconds of the stabbings, MTA authorities said. The alleged assailant, Steven Hutcherson, 36, of the Bronx, has been charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.

WABC reported that Hutcherson, who has a criminal record and a history of alleged mental illness, is known to both MTA and the New York Police Department. Records indicate that his Christmas Day arrest is his third in the past six months.

In the two previous cases, he was accused of menacing people with a gun, WABCreported.

WNBC spoke to Tartinery’s manager, who said Hutcherson was acting erratically before the attack. Authorities said restaurant staff members had told him he could not sit in the restaurant’s seating area.

That’s when he reportedly turned to the young victims, who he did not know.

“They had no idea he was even there,” said the manager, whose name was not released. “He just pulled out a knife and stabbed one girl in the back.”

Hutcherson immediately put the knife down and surrendered to responding officers, WABC reported.

Detectives are investigating the case as a potential hate crime due to statements Hutcherson made at the scene. Details of those statements have not been released.