Man stabbed to death by stranger in NYC subway station during rush-hour scuffle

A straphanger was stabbed to death after scuffling with a stranger who stepped on his shoes during Friday morning rush-hour in Manhattan — marking the first subway homicide of 2025, cops and sources said.
The 38-year-old victim — a “transit recidivist” criminal with more than 60 prior arrests — was riding a Brooklyn-bound No. 5 train when another commuter stepped on his feet around 8:40 a.m., according to authorities and sources.
The victim then flew into a rage, calling the shoe-stepper a gay slur, sources said.
That’s when the other man turned violent and stabbed him, according to the sources.
When the feuding pair got off the train at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station downtown, the wounded man chased after the alleged stabber — who then knifed him again, the sources said.