Times Square stabbing: Tourist attacked after walking out of NYC gift shop

TIMES SQUARE - Whether you’re visiting NYC or have been here for years, video of a brazen Times Square stabbing requires a double take.

According to police, just before 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, Cyril Destin, 61, was seen calmly sitting on a walker before he stabbed a 35-year-old tourist coming out of a gift shop.

"He smoke a cigarette. He sees like two ladies coming from the gift shop, and he stabs the one lady," said Anwar, an employee at Port Deli Gormet. 

Anwar is no stranger to Destin, who he says is a regular at the deli just off 43rd Street and 8th Avenue in Times Square, where NYPD officers have been making their rounds following the incident. 

"It’s not normal," Anwar recalled to FOX 5 NY. "Like after you stab somebody you run away from the cop but this guy after he, only one time, and he sits back in his chair, smoked a cigarette and people walk in front of him. Too many people it’s rush hour."

"It’s like every other day," one viewer said after seeing the video. "There’s something disturbing happening in the city like that was just completely unprovoked."

The victim is expected to recover after she was taken to Bellevue Hospital, as New Yorkers try to imagine what triggered the seemingly unprovoked attack. 

"I feel terrible for him because he’s obviously a troubled person," Robert Shapiro shared. "I feel terrible for her. Like I said, these are all somebody’s babies."

"So just for nothing," one tourist shared. "Well, that’s a part of New York I have not seen."

Police say Destin has a history of at least 14 arrests, including robbery, petty larceny and several drug-related charges. He was charged and arrested Saturday with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

"People perform crimes," Shapiro observed. "They’re in and out of jail the same day. People get angry because why are they?"