NEW YORK — Three people were murdered in New York City during a bloody three-hour span, police said Sunday.

The violence came just seven hours after three people, including a 4-year-old girl, were wounded by stray bullets in Times Square, sparking fear the city could be slipping back into the bad old days of widespread violence and pervasive threats to public safety.

The string of deaths began 11:35 p.m. Saturday when a man was stabbed multiple times in the neck, shoulder and arm in the Midtown Suite hotel, which also doubles as a homeless shelter, on West 31st Street near Broadway — less than a mile from the stray bullet shooting.

Medics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital, where he died. He was not carrying ID and authorities were working to determine his identity Sunday.

Just two minutes later, police got a 911 call that a man was bleeding facedown inside a stairwell of the Lexington Houses on East 99th Street near Park Avenue in East Harlem. Police and medics found him dead at the scene. He had been shot in the chest.

He also was not carrying ID and authorities were still trying to determine his identity Sunday.

About 2:35 a.m, Sunday, a 32-year-old man was shot in the chest on Westchester Avenue near Faile Street in the Bronx. He was rushed to Lincoln Hospital but couldn’t be saved. His name was not immediately released.

There have been no arrests so far in any of the three slayings.

The city has seen 132 homicides so far this year through May 2, compared with 113 at the same point last year, a 17% rise. Shootings have surged dramatically, with 463 people shot this year citywide by May 2 compared with 259 during the same period last year, a 79% spike.