Suspect in NYC stabbing spree had been released on cashless bail after slashing attack 4 years ago

Mug shot of Hector Deleon.

The 51-year-old suspect arrested for allegedly going on a stabbing spree in New York City's Penn Station on Sunday had been arrested and released in recent weeks, and was released on cashless bail four years ago after a similar slashing attack in New Jersey. 

Police say Hector Deleon went on a crazed stabbing spree Sunday, injuring five people, including one victim who has come forward to show the slash mark left on his face from the attack, and describe the harrowing ordeal at one of Manhattan's busiest commuter stations. Deleon has a checkered criminal past, with an arrest in late May by police officers in New Jersey for alleged theft and drug paraphernalia possession. 

In 2022, The New York Post reports, Deleon was arrest for a similar knife attack in Newark, New Jersey. He was released on cashless bail, one of the hallmarks of the BLM movement following the 2020 death of George Floyd, and sentenced to two years of probation. He's gone on to rack up at least seven arrests since.

Deleon was so out of control during Sunday's attack, he had to be tranquilized in order for police to subdue him. Henry Obadiah told The New York Post Deleon had "rage in his eyes" during the attack, saying the crazed Deleon looked like he "wanted to kill me."

Deleon is accused of using a double-edged dagger in the attack. Obadiah, 60, appeared on Fox News an showed a major cut that was left across his cheek, where Deleon allegedly slashed him with the dagger, and a fat lip that was stitched up by doctors after it caught the sharp end of the blade, too.

Obadiah said he was making his way through Penn Station on his way back from the Jersey Shore and "I just locked eyes with this crazy madman." Obadiah said Deleon then hit him in the mouth, and at some point slashed him with the knife. At first, he didn't realize he'd been slashed until a bystander yelled out, "he's got a knife" and "he cut you." Watch him tell the harrowing story in the video below.