The “A-Train Ripper” was identified Sunday as a 21-year-old homeless man who has been previously arrested at least four times — including for allegedly assaulting a cop and his own father.
Rigoberto Lopez — who has been hospitalized at least twice for mental issues — allegedly confessed to NYPD cops that he launched the violent weekend subway spree that left a man and woman dead and two men wounded, authorities said.
“I’m not going to get into motive, but what I can tell you is they were all unprovoked attacks,’’ NYPD Chief Brian McGee, commanding officer of Manhattan North detectives, told reporters at a briefing Sunday. “The victims had nothing, didn’t initiate anything.”
Lopez — who lives in a shelter in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn — had previously “been removed to the hospital two times for, I’ll say, mental illness,” McGee said.
The suspect was nabbed Saturday while still covered in blood and with the alleged murder weapon, according to law-enforcement sources.
He later confessed to the bloody spate of crimes along the A line, which occurred over a span of about 15 hours Friday and Saturday, the NYPD said.
Lopez was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder Sunday.
He has had at least four prior arrests, including for “possession of a controlled substance, criminal contempt and assault,” according to McGee.
The drug charge stems from an October arrest during which cops responding to a report of an emotionally disturbed person in Manhattan found him at the scene with cocaine, law-enforcement sources said.
In November 2019, Lopez was charged with hitting an NYPD cop.
A month earlier, he was busted for violating a protective order his father had against him — weeks after he had allegedly struck his dad with a stick, according to sources.
The outcome of the cases was not immediately known, including whether Lopez may have been eligible for bail.
It also was unclear what if any treatment Lopez may have been receiving for mental issues, as the city spends $1 billion a year on its ThriveNYC mental-health services.
This past weekend, cops tracked down Lopez less than 24 hours after his alleged murderous train spree.
Police said Lopez’s rampage began at around 11:30 a.m. Friday, when cops found a 67-year-old man with stab wounds on a southbound A train platform at the 181st Street station in Washington Heights.
Twelve hours later, a 57-year-old homeless man was found stabbed to death aboard an A train at the Mott Avenue station in Far Rockaway, Queens.
About two hours after that, a 44-year-old homeless woman, identified by police sources and her family as Claudine Roberts, was found fatally slashed in a pool of blood on an A train at the 207th Street station in Inwood in Manhattan.
Then, at around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, a 43-year-old man was found wounded after being randomly stabbed on a train at West 181st Street, police said.
McGee said Lopez was arrested at around 6:15 p.m. Saturday without incident after cops on patrol recognized him from a description of the suspect. The alleged killer was still wearing the same clothes he was seen in on surveillance video, the chief said.
Lopez was charged after undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital, police and law-enforcement sources told The Post.
“This individual was found to be in possession of a knife, which was recovered when he was apprehended, on his person,” the chief said.
“Forensics will be used to determine if this knife was used in the commission of either of these incidents.”
McGee credited “grueling work” by detectives in putting the case together and tracking down surveillance footage to get an image of Lopez to cops.
The slashings, the latest incident in a recent spike of transit violence, prompted MTA Chairman Patrick Foye and interim New York City Transit chief Sarah Feinberg on Sunday to ask for 1,500 more cops to be assigned to the transit system — three times the number the NYPD said it would reassign to the subways by Monday.
“We request teams of uniformed officers be assigned to every station and that officers ride the system throughout the day and during the overnight to ensure the safety of our customers and colleagues,” they wrote in an open letter to Mayor de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Police and city officials did not reply to a request for comment.