NEW YORK — Three people were stabbed in Manhattan Monday morning, two fatally, in what appears to be an unprovoked spree by a lone attacker, police said.

The suspect, taken into custody after the third stabbing, is a 51-year-old resident of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on East 30th Street near First Avenue who appeared to randomly select his victims, police sources said.

Mayor Eric Adams, at a press conference at the 17th Precinct stationhouse, said he believed the stabbings were a failure of the criminal justice and mental health systems. The suspect has eight prior arrests, police sources told The News, including one case still pending.

The first victim, a 36-year-old construction worker, was stabbed about 8:20 a.m. on W. 19th St. near Tenth Ave. in Chelsea, police said. The suspect walked onto the construction site and stabbed the victim without provocation, cops said. Surveillance video from the scene shows the killer with two knives out, police said.

Medics rushed the construction worker to Bellevue Hospital but he could not be saved. His name was not immediately released.

A woman who lives across the street was outside in her garden when she heard a commotion and then yelling.

“It was just a scream, ‘Call 911!’ And then that got my attention,” the woman, who gave her name as Barbara, told the Daily News.

The victim was motionless as he lay in the street covered by a blanket before first responders arrived, his tan construction boots visible.

“They ran out of the ambulance. They were checking his heartbeat,” she said. “Then they pulled him up and put him in the ambulance.”

The second victim, a 68-year-old man, was fishing in the East River Promenade near the Water Club when he was stabbed at 10:27 a.m. at E. 30th St. and the FDR Drive in Kips Bay, said police. Medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital but doctors could not save him.

Less than a half-hour later, at 10:55 a.m. a woman was stabbed at E. 42nd St. and First Ave. in Murray Hill.

According to police, a passing cab driver saw the assault, mistook it for a robbery, and flagged down a nearby cop.

Officer Robert Garvey, who had been posted near the United Nations on E. 45th St. and First Ave., caught up with the suspect and took him into custody with charges pending.

The victim in that stabbing was rushed to NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell Hospital in critical condition.

The suspect was taken into custody at E. 46th St. and First Ave. and two knives were recovered by cops.

In February he was arrested for four small merchant burglaries, two in December and two in January, police told The News. In October he was arrested again and charged with grand larceny.

The suspect also has arrests in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey.

A neighbor who lives on the block where the first slaying took place was shocked to hear the victim was the friendly construction worker who he had seen at the work site for the past two weeks.

“He died? Oh wow,” said the neighbor, who gave his name as Orlando and started to cry.

“He was a nice guy,” said Orlando, 55. “Very quiet guy.”

“He was respectful. He would say good morning,” he added. “He looked like a guy who would go to church. Very clean-cut guy.”

Orlando, who has lived on the block for over 20 years, said the fatal stabbing was a disturbing event that reminded him of times past.

“I haven’t heard of anything like this in a long time,” he said.

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