Attempted murder charges for accused subway attacker

A Germantown man was charged with attempted murder Friday for allegedly stabbing a fellow passenger on the Broad Street subway multiple times with a pair of scissors, authorities said.

Police said Sheldon Mullings, 36, was on a southbound train Thursday afternoon when a South Philadelphia man boarded at Snyder Avenue. Without provocation, Mullings pulled out a pair of scissors and attacked, plunging the blades into the man's abdomen, back, face and arms, said Capt. Larry Nodiff of South Detectives.

The 46-year-old victim got off the train at the Oregon Avenue. Medics found him at street level and took him to Hahnemann University Hospital where doctors sewed him up with more than 60 stitches, Nodiff said.

About 40 minutes after the stabbing, police found Mullings at Methodist Hospital seeking treatment for a gash on his forehead. Officers recovered a pair of scissors and then took Mullings to Hahnemann where the victim, recuperating in postsurgery, positively identified him as his attacker, Nodiff said.

The victim remained hospitalized in serious but stable condition this afternoon, said Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman.

Mullings, who also goes by the name Sheldon Millington, is originally from Jamaica and is considered a flight risk, said Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's office.

No witnesses to Thursday's attack have come forward, police said.

Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman for SEPTA, said she was mystified that no one had reported the incident to station personnel.

Williams said SEPTA police officers reviewed surveillance video but did not see anyone who appeared to have been stabbed get off a train at the Oregon station.

"We just see passengers leaving the train," Williams said. "We didn't see any panic-stricken passengers. Nobody looked disturbed or had issues or concerns."

Anyone with information is asked to call South Detectives at 215-686-3013.