The Manhattan fast-food joint the place an Australian vacationer was stabbed in a terrifying, unprovoked assault Monday is an notorious hangout for shady characters — incomes it the nickname “Homicide McDonald’s.”
The McDonald’s at 490 Eight Avenue, which is open 24/7, attracts a seedy clientele, together with drug sellers, thugs and junkies from a close-by methadone clinic, after hours, they instructed The Publish.
“It’s like a f—ing nightmare,” mentioned one clinic patron named Toaster, 45, including that he eats on the restaurant about as soon as every week.
“It’s a homicide McDonald’s. They do no matter they need right here. It’s like slightly slice of hell as a result of you will get no matter you want right here,” he mentioned.
“You gotta be careful whilst you’re consuming McDonald’s and also you’re not even freaking from right here.”
Close by, a panhandler and admitted former drug pusher named Tony mentioned anybody with widespread sense stays away from the eatery after midnight.
“As soon as it will get darkish that’s when all of the stuff comes out … that’s when the vampires come out, the bloodsuckers,” he mentioned. “The bloodsuckers come out when it hits darkish. When it’s gentle, they sleep, identical to a vampire.
“It’s cash hour,” Tony added. “Not a spot to be hanging out right here at that late evening.”
At round 2 a.m. on Monday, a 19-year-old man from Australia was contained in the McDonald’s consuming when he was stabbed within the ribs and again by a wackjob wielding a knife, based on police and law-enforcement sources.
Phrases had been exchanged between the sufferer and his attacker, however sources mentioned the horrifying incident was largely unprovoked.
The sufferer, who was staying at a close-by lodge, based on sources, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, the place he was listed in secure situation.
Cops later arrested Juan Mercedes, 25, and charged him with second-degree assault within the assault. Mercedes, of Florida, was awaiting arraignment later Monday.
The sufferer could have been unaware of the infamous, Penn Station-area restaurant’s sordid status, which was the topic of a 2015 New York Occasions article.
However the eatery stays a identified hangout for troublemakers, based on the neighborhood regulars — and even a safety guard stationed outdoors Monday.
“It’s unhealthy,” the guard mentioned. “There’s a clinic throughout the road so the clinic folks are available.”
However she mentioned the violence normally takes place outdoors: “It’s extra so the homeless folks preventing the homeless folks. It’s not likely inside right here.”
She mentioned her co-worker, who was on-duty on the time of Monday morning’s stabbing, gave her a blow-by-blow account, together with telling her “I virtually acquired stabbed too.”
The attacker “was screaming and ran to [the victim] and stabbed him twice,” she mentioned the guy safety guard instructed her.
“He was simply speaking gibberish.”
The guy guard “mentioned he requested why he would do this and he simply stared at him. He waited outdoors for the cops. When the cops got here, he dropped the knife.”
Main crimes have dipped by 11% within the NYPD Midtown South precinct, which patrols the world, with one exception being three murders up to now this yr in comparison with two over the identical span in 2025.
By early afternoon Monday, the restaurant was filled with patrons and there have been no indicators of the violence that unfolded there hours earlier — however locals mentioned it’ll change when darkness falls.
“Spotters” seeking to promote medicine or robbing the unsuspecting are all the time across the eatery, which is close to the nook of West thirty fifth Road not removed from Penn Station, they mentioned.
“The drug folks all the time be right here,” mentioned Khan Raze, who works at a close-by present store.
“They’re all the time promoting and consuming,” he added. “Late evening it’s harmful, particularly thirty fourth Road. It’s all the time folks sitting and the drug mafia.”
— Further reporting by Amanda Woods
