Tuesday, May 12, 2015

[Updated] Police hunt for suspect in Union Square hammer attacks



The NYPD has released a sketch of a suspect accused of two hammer attacks in and around Union Square last evening between 7:36 and 7:46.

According to NBC 4 New York, one of the victims was sitting on a bench in Union Square "when she saw the suspect looking at her, police said. When she looked back, he took out a silver hammer and struck her."

The second victim on West 17th Street didn't see the hammer but felt the impact, per NBC 4.

The women, ages 28 and 33, were taken to Lenox Hill HealthPlex with minor injuries, and have been treated and released. The man is also suspected of a third attack on a 20-year-old man earlier in the day on Sixth Avenue and 35th Street.

The NYPD released the above sketch, describing the suspect as having a medium build and wearing a black waist length jacket with a black backpack, dark-colored baseball hat, dark jeans, and black sneakers.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Updated 1:04 p.m.

The Wall Street Journal has more details about the attacks:

A 28-year-old East Village woman leaving Union Square Park was struck by a man who she said had been sitting across from her on a bench in Union Square moments earlier, a law-enforcement official said.

She told police that the suspect had been smoking Newport cigarettes, the official said. The woman said that as she left the park, she was hit on the head from behind by the man with a hammer.

Updated 5/13

The NYPD has released a photo of the suspect...



Updated 11:17 a.m.

According to DNAinfo, the police shot the suspect as he tried to attack an officer with a hammer near Port Authority this morning. No word just yet on the condition of the victim.

28 comments:

  1. I've been gone from NYC for a long timem, but I check this blog every so often. It's good to see that NYC still has these lone-nut psychos on the loose, attacking people in by particularly-distinguishing means (i.e. "Dartman," with his blow-gun in the subway). Gotta BRAND that stuff, y'know?

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  2. Oh yeah, it's just GREAT to have "these lone-nut psychos on the loose".

    Get your head out of la-la land. And go fuck yourself as three people are seriously hurt.

    This ain't the movies and that scumbag isn't a Marvel villain (as much as you like to fantasize).

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  3. Jesus F Christ, how about a description of ethnicity. I know it offends some people but in the real world, that shit is very helpful in ID'ing people. Our political correctness is our own undoing. It shackles us.

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  4. This is terrifying. I can't even imagine being in such a situation. I'll often walk around the village listening to music on my iPhone with my earplugs in. Anything could happen unbeknownst to me. I hope these women will be all right and that this man is charged with attempted murder.

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  5. 12:02

    How about getting off the spectrum and figuring out sarcasm.

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  6. Until 10 minutes ago when the city became infiltrated by millennial pussies, people would have jumped in and held this guy until the cops got there.

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  7. This attack is scary, but fortunately, the women (at least) were not "seriously hurt."

    "The women, ages 28 and 33, were taken to Lenox Hill HealthPlex with minor injuries, and have been treated and released"

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  8. 12:06

    The absence of ethnicity is particularly frustrating coupled with that trans-racial sketch. Knowing if that person is white, black or Hispanic would be the difference between recognizing them or not.

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  9. Benny from da BronxMay 12, 2015 at 1:19 PM

    @11:36 Am Nice way to make light of crime vctims, jerkwad. I'm sure whatever creationiist stone-age theme park you live in never has any crime, unless you count being stuck on stupid illegal. One of the women had to have 4 staples put in her head. The news says that's not a serious injury. And you think that's funny?

    This is a serious criminal who coud easily kill someone next time by hitting them in the head with a hammer. I know a guy who got hit on the head in a mugging in the village, EMS took him to Bellevue, by the time they got him there he was brain dead. They had to drill a hole in hiis head to drain out the fluids and save his life, and after years of physical therapy and learning to walk again he's never been the same. It's so amusing until it happens to you.

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  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpCV2wgoxC8

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  11. This is my neighborhood. That asshole better watch out--for me. What I carry is both legal and a lot longer than a hammer.

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  12. 1:19

    You really wouldn't like the Producers (or Natural Born Killers).

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  13. 1:28 - I'm curious, what is your weapon of choice?

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  14. Why weren't they taken to Beth Israel, which is a few blocks away?

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  15. From the tone of his/her comments, sounds like of swiffer or feather duster.

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  16. Bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer...

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  17. Photo of guy shows a black male. THis looks like the I need a girlfriend guy.

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  18. Sketch vs Photo ...May 12, 2015 at 4:52 PM

    There is a photo here:

    http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150512/union-square/hammer-attacker-bashes-women-union-square

    The guy in the photo barely resembles the guy in the sketch here.

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  19. maybe Lenox Hill HealthPlex has a head trauma component
    bellevue has one

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  20. The only thing you can conclude from that sketch is that the suspect is a male, not of East Asian descent. Facepalm.

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  21. A brain injury—and any blow to the head potentially causes a brain injury—is a serious condition. I have to agree with Anonymous 12:16:

    This is terrifying. I can't even imagine being in such a situation…I hope these women will be all right and that this man is charged with attempted murder.

    Yes, that's right.

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  22. Hell yeah anon 12:23!!! People need to stick up for eachother. How someone can freely walk or scurry away after that baffles me. The crying shame of it is you never know whose gona pull a gun or knife out of their waist.

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  23. The Hammer guy was shot in midtown on 8th Ave and 37th St as he was trying to attack a cop with a hammer, taken to Bellevue in critical condition.

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  24. Looks like the police got him...

    Manhattan: 8th Ave & 37 St. U/D; Serial hammer attacker suspect shot by police after he attempted to attack officer.

    https://twitter.com/NYCityAlerts/status/598499465029353472

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  25. Thanks to the brave men and women of the NYPD for getting this rabid dog off the streets.

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  26. Lock him away in a psych ward FOREVER. See you never, Toots!

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  27. If I had a hammer,
    I'd hammer in the morning,
    I'd hammer in the evening,
    All over this land,
    I'd hammer out danger,
    I'd hammer out a warning,
    I'd hammer out love between,
    My brothers and my sisters,
    All over this land.

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  28. Jokes about this are NOT funny. Perhaps the cretins who make them were dropped on their heads as babies by their crackhead mothers.

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