Three elderly victims were wounded at the transit hub, and the alleged attacker is in critical condition, police said.

A man wielding a machete was fatally shot by police in New York City’s Grand Central station, after allegedly wounding three elderly individuals, according to the local police department.

Police responded to a call about a man with a knife at the iconic transit hub at 9:40am United States Eastern time (13:40 GMT) on Saturday.

One police officer opened fire, striking the man, who was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

Three individuals — an 84-year-old man, a 70-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man — were wounded before police arrived at the scene, according to a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson.

All three victims were hospitalised in stable condition.

In a statement, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the attacker later died from the wound.

He said police had opened fire when the man “did not drop the machete”.

“I’m grateful to the NYPD for their quick response and for preventing additional violence,” he said.

“The NYPD is conducting an internal investigation and will release body-worn camera footage, as it does in all incidents involving the discharge of an officer’s firearm.”

The suspect’s identity and what motivated the attack were not immediately known. Authorities said he had been acting erratically on a subway train before deboarding at the station.

In a post on X, New York Governor Kathy Hochul described the attack as a “senseless act of violence”‘.

Grand Central station is one of the best known and travelled transit hubs in the United States.

Located in Midtown, Manhattan, it is a nexus of several New York City subway lines, as well as the regional Metro-North Railroad system.

Known for its Beaux-Arts architecture, the terminal is also one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, with an average of 750,000 travellers and visitors a day.