Police were on the hunt for a whopping 16 suspects in the aftermath of a brawl in Times Square on Friday in which a 17-year-old immigrant boy was stabbed in the back in front of shocked onlookers.
The teenage victim, believed to be from Nicaragua, was visiting the Crossroads of the World for the first time with friends when he was stabbed by a group of masked assailants at the tourist spot Thursday night, police and officials said. did.
“I saw someone running…and there was blood coming out of his back, blood everywhere,” Bel Mohamed, a witness who works in the area, told the Post. Told.
Around 5:30 p.m., a scuffle broke out on West 42nd Street near Eighth Avenue, and the suspects began arguing with the victim and her friends, yelling, “What’s going on?” what are you looking at? ” According to law enforcement officials.
According to police, the gang began chasing the victim before someone thrust a knife into the victim’s lower back.
The boy later told police he remembered falling to the floor, shielding his head from a series of kicks and punches.
Officials say he remembers being hit in the head multiple times, but doesn’t remember what happened next.
Police said the victim was transported by EMS to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
Police later recovered a large bloody knife at the scene.
As of Friday, police had arrested five of the attackers, including an immigrant teenager, and were searching for 16 more suspects, the NYPD said. That’s what it means.
According to police, Michael Colome, 22, of Queens, was arrested and charged with gang assault, assault and possession of a weapon.
Three 16-year-old boys and a 14-year-old boy, whose names have not been released because they are minors, were charged with gang assault and assault, police said.
Another boy was initially taken into custody, but the arrest was voided and he was released, police said.
At least two of the detained teens are believed to be immigrants from Venezuela, officials said.
The latest violence, on the same block where a group of immigrants brutally attacked a police officer last month, has left New Yorkers and tourists alike horrified.
Mohammed, who witnessed the stabbing frenzy, described the area near the crime scene as “dangerous”.
“Some people are just crazy.”
Cassandra Wygant, a medical student who was visiting the city from Michigan with her parents, said she had heard about Thursday’s unrest and planned to leave Times Square before dark.
“I’m nervous and I’m on high alert. We’re trying to be as safe as possible. We’ll leave before dark,” Wygant, 34, told the Post on Friday.
Julie Donovan, a 62-year-old retiree from North Carolina, said she and her friends are also on “high alert” in the tourist haven.
“I was scared to come here because I’ve lived all over the world. You see things like this on the news, and it’s crazy,” she says, adding that one of her friends told her, “I’m a tourist… “It looks like that,” he added.
Brian Fernandez, a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident who was shopping in Times Square with his family, said he wasn’t necessarily scared, but was “100% aware of everything.”
“I only think about myself,” he said.
“I don’t look at anyone directly, but at the same time I’m aware of what’s going on around me.”
