A second seemingly random attack in Hell's Kitchen in the span of a week has left a 73-year-old man in the hospital with severe injuries.
Police say the man was walking standing on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building on West 47th Street Saturday morning when he was punched in the chest and knocked to the ground.
The man, identified by neighbors as a super to a building on the block, was taken to Mount Sinai West with injuries to his ribs.
"He has lots of energy, you wouldn't think so he walks with a cane, very soft spoken. Everyday he pull the trash, he's always ready if you need him for anything," Steven Herring, who knows the victim, told News 4.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
According to the NYPD's Midtown North Precinct, felony assaults are down slightly year-to-date.
Images of the suspect were released hours after the attack by police eager to catch the attacker behind the neighborhood's second random attack this week.
News
Last Wednesday, a 65-year-old Asian-American woman was viciously beaten, kicked and knocked down blocks away. A 38-year-old man has been arrested and charged in her attack.
Neighbors say the recent attacks have them questioning their own safety.
"Is this issue about homelessness? Is it about poverty? Is it about mental health? What is the issue and where are the resources?" one neighbor was left asking.
"There's something in our culture that has been unleashed and I don't know quite what we need to do to put it back," Herring added.
The police investigation Sunday was ongoing and no arrests had been announced.
