A 70-year-old man allegedly slashed a 68-year-old woman’s face with a knife following a brief dispute at a Brooklyn subway station on Saturday morning, according to police. The incident occurred around 9 a.m. on the mezzanine level of the Sheepshead Bay station, which serves the B and Q lines.

Authorities reported that the confrontation began when the man, who was holding an emergency exit door open, came into conflict with the woman. During the altercation, the man pressed a knife to the woman’s face and inflicted a cut that caused bleeding. The assailant then fled the scene on a southbound Q train.

A person of interest was subsequently taken into custody, with charges pending, according to a police source. The victim declined medical treatment at the location.

Officials noted that some individuals unlawfully hold subway emergency exit doors open and solicit money from riders for passage, an ongoing issue within the transit system.

The attack comes amid a rise in violence across New York City’s subway network. Data from the New York Police Department indicate that felony assaults in the transit system have increased by 12%, rising from 470 incidents last year to 525 so far this year. Misdemeanor assaults have also grown by 16%, from 1,120 to 1,304 over the same period.

Comparing longer timeframes, felony assaults in the subway are up 18% from two years ago and have nearly doubled, increasing by 94%, compared to seven years prior. Misdemeanor assaults have risen 11% over two years and 25% over seven years.

Despite this surge in assaults, overall transit-related crimes have climbed only 2% this year, while arrests connected to subway offenses have fallen by 5%, according to NYPD statistics.