NYPD arrests suspect behind terrifying caught-on-camera hammer attack that left woman with fractured skull
William Blount, 57, was charged with attempted murder, robbery and assault in connection with the attack of a New York City Health Department employee as she was entering a Queens subway station, officials have said.
A man was shot in the chest inside a New York City subway station on Sunday night, around the same time police released horrifying video showing a suspect hitting a woman in the face and head with human feces, authorities have said.
Several subway riders have been attacked or otherwise targeted by alleged criminals in the days since New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced his crackdown on the transit system, with the deployment of additional officers and resources. On Sunday, a 27-year-old man was standing on the L-train platform inside Brooklyn’s Broadway Junction subway station around 10:10 p.m. when he and another person began arguing, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said.
Details of the argument were not immediately available, but police said the male suspect then pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the chest before fleeing. The victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was expected to survive.
NYC MAN CHARGED IN SUBWAY HAMMER ATTACK HAS RAP SHEET DATING BACK DECADES
Police could only describe the suspect as a man in his 20s.
On Saturday, a different suspect followed a 28-year-old woman from a Brooklyn subway station on 45th Street and 4th Avenue to her home, police said. The woman left the subway station just before 6 a.m. Saturday and the stranger followed her as she made her way to her apartment in the area of 44th Street and Third Avenue, in Manhattan.
There, he followed her into her building and began to perform sexual acts on himself as he touched the victim and made perverse comments about her, police said.
Police are looking for this man, who allegedly followed a woman home from a Brooklyn subway station and sexually abused her on Saturday, Feb. 26, just before 6 a.m. (NYPD)
"The individual then grabbed the victim around the neck and punched her multiple times to the face and body before fleeing westbound," the NYPD said in a Sunday press release.
The woman was taken to a local hospital, where she was expected to survive. Her attacker was still on the loose.
Meanwhile, police said Sunday they are looking for the brute behind a different heinous subway attack from earlier in the week.
A 43-year-old woman was sitting on a bench inside a Bronx subway station at East 241st Street on Feb. 21 when a stranger approached and "struck her in the face and the back of the head with human feces," the NYPD said.
Chilling video of the attack shows the man standing behind the woman as he continues to strike her in the head before walking away.
Police arrested the suspect, whom they identified as 37-year-old Frank Abrokwa, just over a week later and charged him with forcible touching, menacing disorderly conduct, and harassment.
Police recently announced the arrest of 57-year-old William Blount, who was charged with attempted murder, robbery and assault for allegedly repeatedly attacking a New York City health worker in the head with a hammer. Authorities said the woman, who has been identified as 57-year-old research scientist Dr. Nina Rothschild, suffered a fractured skull and a brain bleed. She was in critical, but stable condition as of Sunday.
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The NYPD asks anyone with information related to the crimes to call its Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
Fox News reporter Paul Best contributed to this report.
