Horror in SoHo: Woman Stabbed by Broken-Bottle-Wielding Maniac

Meagan “Mae” Berg, the 25-year-old costume designer stabbed in the neck by a broken-bottle-wielding maniac on April 7 is alive and recovering. Muslim Brunson, 46, was arrested shortly after the attack on Berg and another young woman who not seriously hurt. He has been charged with attempted murder.

Berg’s life was nearly taken on a chilly early spring afternoon at Wooster and Broome streets, an unlikely time and place—in the heart of one of Manhattan’s trendiest shopping districts—for such a horrific event to “randomly” occur. Unlikely perhaps, but the area’s proximity to a notoriously rough, often lawless stretch of Canal Street belies its “safe” reputation.

Berg was in these boutique-filled blocks, shopping for work, when Brunson suddenly exploded, first throwing a green glass bottle at a 29-year-old woman, which shattered off her back. “I’m going to kill a bitch!” the woman heard Brunson shout, and moments later, Berg herself was screaming.

In the plain language of NYPD reports:

“At approximately 3:04 p.m., police responded to a 911 call of an assault in progress in front of 480 Broome Street, within the confines of the 1st Precinct. Upon arrival, officers observed a 25-year-old female with a stab wound to the neck. The victim was transported by EMS to NYC Health and Hospitals/Bellevue in critical condition. A person of interest was taken into custody at the scene.”

The Great, a clothing store at 480 Broome St., is the second building in from the northeast corner of Wooster, where Mae Berg’s bright red blood soaked a white crosswalk line.

A security guard at Selima Optique across the street heard Berg’s scream and ran outside to help.

“I applied pressure on her neck,” the good Samaritan told the Daily News. “Girls came to help with a tissue. A guy pulled over [and] he had tissues. We tried to apply as much pressure as we can.”

The first reporter on the scene was Dean Moses of amNY, who got there so quickly, Brunson was still in the hands of cops across the street.

Nearly as shocking as the attack itself, was the sight of Brunson, handcuffed and wearing a dark blue NYPD hoodie and black watch cap, waiting to be taken away. Brunson was cognizant of the reporter Moses and in a posted video, muttered something about a knife.

While Berg was rushed to Bellevue, where she’d be placed on a ventilator (since removed) and undergo two surgeries, Brunson was taken to the 1st Precinct station on Elizabeth Street, and Straus News, waiting for more official reports, started its own investigation.

It didn’t take long. Not only did Brunson have a criminal record, one of his crimes had been citywide news back in July 2022. The victim this time was also a woman—a civilian employee of NYPD, no less.

The official police report stated:

“On Monday, July 4, 2022, at approximately 11:58pm, in the vicinity Fulton Street Station on the southbound ‘4’ train, within the confines of the Transit District 2 / 1st Precinct, a 53-year-old female victim stated an unknown male pushed her from behind causing her to strike subway pole. The victim sustained bruising and swelling to the face. Victim was removed to NYU Langone Cobble Hill Hospital in stable condition.”

Newspaper accounts were more detailed, noting the victim suffered a fractured orbital bone and a fracture of the left zygomatic arch.

Two days later, Muslim Bronson, then 43, with a Maryland address, was arrested and charged with assault, both for the original attack and for fighting the cops who were arresting him.

Despite a prior history of mental illness, and a September 2019 attack on a 13-year-old boy in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Brunson served just a year in prison, being released from Sing Sing in August 2023, with his parole ending in February 2024.

Recidivism, and Alleged Mental Illness, Again

The near-fatal attack on Berg recalls other recent murderous assaults by men with known criminal records and alleged mental illness, notably Ramon Rivera, 51, the alleged Manhattan stabber who killed three people during a November 18, 2024, murder spree.

While all the cases have their own contexts, the perpetrators have criminal records, mental illness, and lenient jail sentences in common.

The Manhattan DA’s office prosecuted Brunson in 2022, and now it will prosecute him again, this time more seriously on charges of attempted murder, two counts of assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.

At arraignment, Brunson’s attorney was Mildred Morillo of the New York County Defender Services.

According to the Department of Corrections, Brunson is being held without bail in the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward and his next scheduled court is May 7.

A Theatrical Family

“We’re all in shock,” Mae Berg’s 65-year-old mother, who rushed from the family’s Arizona home to the city after the attack, told the Daily News. “She loved [New York City]. It was her dream to be a costume designer, and she was working in the field she loved. He hit her in the trachea.”

Berg has a degree in from Arizona State and an MFA in theater design from Purdue University in Indiana. Her Instagram account features joy-filled posts about her theater work, including the February 2025 opening of The Irrepressible Magic of the Tropics at the Intar Theatre on W. 52nd Street.

“So much fun Associate Designing for the always incredible Haydee Zeldeth on this wacky show! And getting the band back together again with TB Sound Designs [Tyler Berg] and [costume designer] and Carlee Wuchterl. Much love to the whole cast and crew for the rest of the run!”