Suspected Coney Island subway stabber arrested and charged with murder, police said

Police arrested a man for a fatal stabbing on a Coney Island N train last week.

Zhongqiang Chen, 32, was arrested around 7 p.m. Thursday for allegedly stabbing and killing 54-year-old Timothy Rudolph, who was traveling on the subway around 11:30 p.m. when he was attacked after an argument, the police said.

NYPD officials said Chen was homeless, the men were strangers to each other and the motive for the stabbing was still unclear.

Officers found Rudolph with a stab wound in his back in the corner seat of the N train at the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue subway station. He was pronounced dead at NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn. Police said he lived in the Bronx.

Chen was charged with second-degree murder and was awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Friday.

Information for his attorney was not immediately available.

Chen's arrest comes as police are still searching for the suspect who shot a 47-year-old man on the Upper West Side on Thursday and then ran into the subway.

Bystander video obtained by The New York Times shows passengers taking shelter under subway seats as police searched for the shooter — although no one was injured underground, officials said.

Data released Thursday by the NYPD shows serious crime in the city's subway system continues to decline compared to last year, with 112 fewer incidents reported in 2024. In October, 168 crimes were reported in the system, which regularly transports around 4 million people.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have deployed additional NYPD officers and National Guard soldiers to the subway system over the past two years to combat crime on public transit during and after the pandemic has increased.

This story is based on information from police and may be updated.