The crime spree reportedly began after an early-morning argument over use of the family car, which led to the violent stabbing death of his stepfather. Gelman fled in the car and began a two-day spree of killings and car-jackings that only ended once bystanders spotted him in the subway on an uptown '3' Train leaving Penn Station and recognized him from his photo being shown on local media.

The string of crimes resulted in the deaths of his stepfather, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, a female acquaintance, Yelena Bulchenko and her mother Anna Bulchenko, and Stephen Tanenbaum, who was struck and killed as Gelman sped off from one of the car-jackings. During his frantic escape, he injured an unidentified crossing guard, Arthur DiCrescento, who was stabbed and car-jacked, Fitz Fullerton, a livery cab driver, Shelden Pottinger, who was also stabbed during a car-jacking, and Joseph Lozito, a ticket seller at Lincoln Center who was stabbed multiple times in the face, hands, and neck as he helped subdue Gelman in the subway.

Gelman was disruptive throughout his court appearances, shouting and interrupting witnesses, but was deemed stable enough to stand trial and received a 200-year prison sentence.

In the years after the attack, Joseph Lozito, who helped subdue Gelman, would attempt to sue the city for negligence, accusing the police in the subway of refusing to step in and help him when he was fighting with Gelman and being stabbed, but a judge ruled that Lozito did not have a prior interaction with the police and there was no evidence they knew he was in danger, so he could not sue the city.