A 13-year-old boy and his three masked friends attacked a man near Times Square on Sunday night after he refused to take their picture, according to police. The shocking incident happened around 9 p.m. at the corner of West 40th Street and Seventh Avenue.
The group approached the 23-year-old victim and asked him to snap their photo. But when he said no, things took a violent turn. The boys punched him in the face and used a brass-knuckle knife to stab him in the back and leg, authorities said. They even tried to steal his phone but didn’t succeed.
After the attack, the group ran off, but police managed to catch the 13-year-old boy with the help of the victim. The boy, whose last known address is the Roosevelt Hotel — a place often linked to violence — was charged with second-degree robbery. His three friends, who are still on the run, were last seen dressed in all black and wearing black masks.
Fortunately, the victim’s stab wounds were not serious, and he didn’t need medical attention, according to authorities.
This wasn’t the first time the young teen was in trouble with the law. Just last month, on October 26, he was arrested for a chain-snatching incident on a northbound F train in Brooklyn, near McDonald Avenue and Avenue X. In that case, he and four others pinned down a sleeping man and tried to rob him.
Sunday’s arrest comes as police say they’ve noticed a worrying trend. NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri recently told the media that more juveniles are getting arrested for repeated robberies than ever before. “We’re seeing kids commit five, six, even seven robberies,” Lipetri said, adding that most cases end up being handled in Family Court.
The police are still searching for the other three suspects involved in the Times Square attack.
What was their race?