NEW YORK, NY (PIX11) — A violent felon has assaulted and attacked six Asian victims in Harlem over the past week. In multiple cases his attacks were so brutal that the victims suffered memory loss and couldn’t even remember what happened.
All seven attacks took place within the past week, and a police source tells PIX11 News the suspect targets the heads of his victims, often continuously punching them even when they’re down and out.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit is investigating, but has not made a determination on whether the victims were indeed targeted because of their race.
One 46-year-old female victim was struck from behind on her head and was knocked unconscious, discovered in the elevator by building security. She has no memory of the incident.
Another victim, a 63-year-old man, was also beaten unconscious so badly that he has no recollection of the attacker.
The latest attack took place Thursday morning. The 47-year-old female victim is hospitalized with severe internal head injuries.
In each of the cases, the suspect follows his victim into an elevator, unleashing his attack as soon as the door closes. The suspect then leaves with the victim’s cell phones, wallets, keys and IDs.
The NYPD has released two snapshots of the suspect, described as a Latino male, 25-25 years old, 6’0”-6’2” tall, and 200-240 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.
