This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/05/world/homeless-men-killed-chinatown.html

The article has changed 22 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 10 Version 11
4 Homeless Men Bludgeoned to Death in Manhattan’s Chinatown Rampage Against Sleeping Homeless Men Leaves 4 Dead in Manhattan’s Chinatown
(32 minutes later)
A homeless man went on a rampage in Lower Manhattan early Saturday morning, using a metal bar to bludgeon to death four other homeless men, the police said, in a terrifying attack that jolted the neighborhood. The killer first struck just before 2 a.m. on Saturday on a quiet spot on East Broadway in Chinatown, sneaking up on three homeless men as they slept on a sidewalk and bludgeoning them to death with a rusty, three-foot metal bar, the police said.
The police took a 24-year-old man into custody, and said the killings appeared to be random. A metal bar about three feet long, identified as the murder weapon, was recovered. He then ran a block north and attacked two more men sleeping on a sidewalk, killing one. The second man barely staggered away with his life.
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Rudy Rodriguez Santos, 24, and said he had been charged in the killings. In all, the suspect killed four homeless men and severely injured a fifth in a rampage that jolted a Manhattan neighborhood with a long history of dealing with a large homeless population.
Mr. Santos was captured on surveillance video approaching some of the victims carrying the bar believed used in the killings, although it was not immediately clear that the attacks themselves were visible on the recordings, the official said. The Bowery, a street in Lower Manhattan, has been the site of many flophouses, and the place where the attacks occurred lies just south of the Bowery Mission, one of the city’s oldest and most important aid organizations.
When shown the videos by investigators, Mr. Santos identified himself in the images, but did not explicitly admit to committing the killings, the official said. Steps away from the scenes of the gruesome killings, police officers spotted a 24-year-old man, also believed to be homeless, who fit the descriptions given by the survivor and other witnesses. He was holding a metal bar dripping with blood. He was taken into custody without incident, the police said.
The official said investigators repeatedly asked him why he had committed the killings, but he did not say. He then asked for a lawyer, the official said. “The motive appears to be, right now, just random attacks,” said Michael Baldassano, the chief of Manhattan South Detectives. “No one was targeted by race, age, anything of that nature.”
At a news conference on Saturday morning, Michael Baldassano, the chief of Manhattan South detectives, said it did not appear that the attacks were planned. A law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation, identified the suspect as Rudy Rodriguez Santos, 24, and said he had been charged with killings. Mr. Santos was captured on surveillance video approaching some of the victims carrying the metal bar believed to have been used in the killings, the official said.
“The motive appears to be, right now, just random attacks,” he said. “No one was targeted by race, age, anything of that nature.” The rampage represented one of the most harrowing events in recent memory for New York City’s homeless population, which had steadily risen even as the city had maintained solid economic growth.
Advocates say it is difficult to determine the exact number of homeless people living on the city’s streets, in the subways and in other public spaces, but it is thought to be in the thousands.
The attacks took place near Chatham Square, where the statue of the Chinese scholar Lin Zexu stands on a red granite pedestal overlooking East Broadway, a street that runs along the newer part of Chinatown, and the Bowery, the edge of the old Chinatown.
But the area has been changing rapidly in recent years, as Chinatown has expanded and young professionals facing higher rents in the East Village have begun to move in.
The neighborhood is a bustling traffic hub where commuter vans and long-distance buses vie for curb space. Signs for Chinese family and village associations dot the area. But at night it becomes a place where a growing number of homeless people look for a place to grab a night’s sleep on its quiet sidewalks and park benches.
Advocates for the homeless said Saturday morning’s attacks rattled the already struggling community of homeless people who frequent Chinatown and the Bowery.
“It’s absolutely horrifying,” Giselle Routhier, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless, said. “We’re not sure what the motive was in this case, but it’s certainly very disturbing.”
Johnnie Wilcox, 62, who lives on the streets, said that violence is nearly a daily occurrence for homeless people like him.
“I’ve had guys that walk, drinking, coming out of bars, running and jumping onto my stomach,” Mr. Wilcox said. “Living on the streets is hell.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office said in a statement that it will dedicate resources to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
The fifth victim, who is 49 years old, was transported to the hospital with critical injuries, the police said.
The authorities were alerted to the rampage by a 911 call at 1:50 a.m. Saturday, and responded to the area of East Broadway and the Bowery — around the border between Chinatown and the Lower East Side. In New York City, population 8.5 million, nearly one in 121 New Yorkers is homeless, according to the Bowery Mission, the advocacy group. The Coalition for the Homeless put the number of homeless people in the city’s shelter system in August at 61,674, including 14,806 families with 21,802 children.
The attack began around 1:40 a.m., the police said, when a man with “severe trauma to the head” was discovered on the Bowery.
Shortly afterward, the police discovered another man, 49, with injuries to his head. He was taken to the hospital.
It appears that the first two victims were together when the attacker set upon them, a police official said.
Three other men were found with fatal injuries, the police said.
In New York City, population 8.5 million, nearly one in 121 New Yorkers is homeless, according to the Bowery Mission, an advocacy group. The Coalition for the Homeless put the number of homeless people in the city’s shelter system in August at 61,674, including 14,806 families with 21,802 children. Mayor de Blasio, a Democrat who ran on a promise of reversing the effects of income inequality, has struggled to address the problem of the rising number of homeless people and the high rate of mental illness among them.
The city has experienced a steady rise in its homeless population, primarily because of a lack of affordable housing, the coalition says. “Compared to homeless families, homeless single adults have much higher rates of serious mental illness, addiction disorders and other severe health problems,” the group says. In 2017, he called for a “blood-and-guts war strategy” to tackle the problem, including opening 90 new shelters.
Advocates say it is impossible to get a definitive count of the number of homeless people living on New York City streets, in the subways and in other public spaces, but it is thought to number in the thousands.
In 2016, amid signs that street homelessness was rising to epidemic levels, based on calls to the 311 emergency line, thousands of volunteers fanned out across the city to assess the crisis. Derrick Bryson Taylor and Aimee Ortiz contributed reporting.
In 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a “blood-and-guts war strategy” to tackle the problem, including opening 90 new shelters.
An annual count conducted in late January this year estimated that 3,588 people were living on the streets.
Derrick Bryson Taylor contributed reporting.