BREAKING UPDATE: Person of Interest in Anti-Asian Attack Spree Barricades Himself in New York Public Library
Police are searching for a man they said is responsible for seven separate attacks on Asian victims over the span of two hours across Manhattan.
Each of the attacks occurred between 6:30 p.m. and just after 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 27, taking place from midtown down to the Nolita neighborhood, according to police. The victims were all women, and in five of the attacks, the man punched the victim in the face.
The first victim, a 57-year-old woman, was attacked near Madison Avenue and East 30th Street, according to police. The man approached her and punched her in the face without any provocation or interaction beforehand, and then ran off.
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Ten minutes later, police said another call came in about an assault on an Asian woman near Fifth Avenue and East 30th Street. In that incident, the suspect attacked a 25-year-old Asian woman, hitting her in the face and in the back of her arm, according to police.
The next attack, which police received a call about just five minutes later, occurred in the Flatiron District near Park Avenue South and East 23 Street, police said. The suspect punched a 21-year-old woman in the face, before moving over to the Gramercy section to attack two more women.
A 25-year-old woman was punched in the face near Irving Place and East 17 Street, police said, just minutes before a call came in around 7 p.m. about a 19-year-old woman getting elbowed in the face near Union Square East and East 17 Street.
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Police said that the attacker made his way further south to East Houston Street and Mott Street in Nolita, where he elbowed a 25-year-old victim was elbowed in the mouth. In the final incident, just after 8:30 p.m., the suspect allegedly approached a 20-year-old woman on Broadway and East 8 Street in Greenwich Village and shoved her to the ground, without saying a word, according to police.
While some of the victims required hospitalization after being attacked, all are expected to recover. Each of the attacks were unprovoked, and no words were exchanged between the victims and the alleged attacker.
An investigation is ongoing.
