Two elderly men are stabbed in shocking NYC subway attack amid surge in violent crime in the Big Apple and Mayor de Blasio's $1bn NYPD budget cut – as NY sheriff says 'We're starting to lose control'

Two elderly men were stabbed with scissors on the New York City subway last week, as crime surges in the city and a Long Island sheriff warned the city authorities were 'starting to lose control'. 

Shootings last month in New York City were up 130 per cent year on year - from 89 shootings last year to 205 this year. 

During the July 4 weekend the city saw 21 shootings that left 44 people injured and eight dead.

'When you see the vandalism in all our own communities - when you see the assaults, you see Molotov cocktails being thrown at law enforcement vehicles, you have to start to realize that, we're starting to lose control,' said Errol Toulon, Suffolk County sheriff. 

'And once we start to lose control, we're not losing control to peaceful protesters, these are criminals,' he told Fox News. 

'And so once we start to relinquish authority to them, we're going to have chaos in our streets.' 

The subway attack started at 7:30am July 5 in Queens when Patrick Chambers, 46, shouted at two elderly men sitting across from him: 'Why aren't you home with your kids?' police said.

+4

A July 5 subway attack in New York City at 7:30am was captured on camera

+4

The bald man in the blue t-shirt was attacked with scissors by Patrick Chambers, wearing gray 

NYC man slashes two people on train in unprovoked attack

Loaded: 0%

Progress: 0%

0:00

Previous

Play

Skip

Mute

Current Time0:00

/

Duration Time0:44

Fullscreen

Need Text

Chambers lunged at a 71-year-old man with scissors, stabbing him in the stomach.

A second man, also in his 70s, tried to intervene and was himself slashed with scissors.

The attack, on the 7 train near 52nd Street and Lincoln Avenue, was posted on Facebook by Patrick Gordon and spread rapidly on social media. 

A woman can be heard shrieking in the background. 

A man is heard yelling: 'Get off the train!'

Chambers appears to kick at the men on the floor before walking away to the other end of the subway car, then return to one of the men, jabbing him at least once with the blade.

Both victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Chambers was taken to a local hospital for a psychological evaluation and charged with two counts of assault, two counts of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, which cops recovered from the suspect, police said.

+4

Chambers went to the end of the subway car and then returned to stab the pair a second time

Sheriff Toulon, whose Long Island district borders New York City, said there were many reasons for the uptick in violence, but bail reform laws played a part. 

He said judges should be more forceful in denying bail for dangerous criminals.

'We should hold the judges accountable and make them explain why individuals are obtaining bail [and] if there are particular groups that seem to be targeted by a particular judge,' said Toulon. 

'That's where I believe that we should be focusing our attention on not changing laws or giving individuals the opportunity to return back.'

+4

Errol Toulon, Suffolk County sheriff, appeared on Fox News to discuss New York City

Former police commissioner Ray Kelly said on Fox News that bail reform could be changed 'very easily just by giving judges the discretion to keep people in custody who are a danger to society.'

On June 29 Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, announced he was slashing $1 billion from the New York Police Department (NYPD) annual $6 billion budget.

Calls to defund the police, reducing the cost of policing and directing the money to social work instead, have proliferated since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

De Blasio said he hoped the budget cut would improve the efficiency of the NYPD - the largest force in the United States.

'I am excited to say that we have a plan that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution, and at the same time ensure that we keep our city safe,' he told reporters.

The deal involves moving school safety agents, who are unarmed but wear police uniforms, into the Department of Education, canceling a July class of roughly 1,100 police recruits, and shifting certain homeless outreach operations away from police control. 

On top of the $1 billion cut in operating expenses, there will be a more than $500 million cut to the NYPD's capital budget, with the money instead used to build youth recreation centers and for public housing developments, de Blasio said.