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This is the Brian Laird show on WNYC.

I'm producer Amina Serna filling in for Brian today.

And yesterday, Mayor Adams held his weekly news conference.

Many of the questions focused on Monday's horrific random stabbings,

the city's drought warning, and the mayor's relationship with President

elect Trump. And, as usual, Liz Kim, the WMIC and Gothamist reporter who covers the mayor,

joins us for a recap like she does most Wednesdays after these press Q&As.

Hi Liz. Happy Wednesday. Let's start with this terrible story from Monday.

Have we learned more about the stabbing deaths of these three people?

There were random attacks, but the police arrested the man who evidently confessed, right?

That's right.

So late Monday, police arrested Ramon Rivera. He's a 51-year-old man, and he was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and he was apparently homeless, according to police. So just to recap what police say happened, just before 8.30 on Monday morning, police say that

he approached a construction worker on West 19th Street and stabbed him in the stomach and ran off.

The victim was declared dead. Then afterwards, around 11 a.m., he fatally stabbed a man who was fishing by the side of the East River.

Then he went on to attack a 36-year-old woman near the United Nations.

All three people have been pronounced dead.

He had been released from jail last month,

according to police. He was charged for burglary and assault. The mayor has said that he had, quote, serious mental health issues. And there are records that seem to support that assertion.

Yeah, the mayor cited a reduction in crime in the city before taking questions from reporters yesterday,

but of course he was asked about this attack, the kind that makes everyone feel unsafe no matter what the stats say.

His focus was on mental illness and the policy of

...