NY police make 'subway slasher' arrest

New York City police have arrested a suspect in connection with a spate of stabbing attacks on the city's subway that left two people dead.

Rigoberto Lopez is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and two counts of second-degree attempted murder, the New York Police Department said on Twitter on Sunday.

The four unprovoked attacks apparently targeted homeless people and took place on the A train or at stations served by it beginning on Friday morning.

Lopez was taken into custody late on Saturday wearing blood-soaked clothes and shoes, local radio station 1010WINS said.

In the first attack, a 67-year-old man is recovering in the hospital after being stabbed by a masked assailant at a station in upper Manhattan, police said.

Hours later, a man was found stabbed to death on an A train at a station in Queens.

Soon afterward, a 44-year-old woman was discovered unconscious with stab wounds on an A train at a station in Manhattan. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The fourth person was a 43-year-old man who was stabbed early on Saturday. After undergoing surgery, he was in a stable condition, police said.

New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told reporters on Saturday that 500 additional officers were being deployed to the city's transit system "to make sure people feel safe."