NEW YORK — A man fatally stabbed three people across a swath of Manhattan on Monday morning, carrying out a series of random attacks without uttering a word to his victims, officials said.

The 51-year-old suspect was in police custody after being found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives he was carrying, authorities said. The suspect’s and victims’ names weren’t immediately released.

“Three New Yorkers. Unprovoked attacks that left us searching for answers on how something like this could happen,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference.

Investigators were working to understand what propelled the rampage.

The first stabbing killed a 36-year-old construction worker who was standing by his work site near the Hudson River a little before 8:30 a.m. About two hours later, a 68-year-old man was killed while fishing in the East River.

Around 10:55 a.m., a 36-year-old woman was stabbed near the United Nations headquarters on East 42nd Street, Kenny said. She died later Monday at a hospital, police said.

– The Associated Press