NEW YORK (WPIX) – A gunman shot two homeless men while they slept in Lower Manhattan Saturday, killing one man and injuring the other, the New York Police Department said.
The NYPD believes the gunman – shown in the photo above – is targeting homeless people while they sleep in the streets.
“The video is chilling to see a cold-blooded act of murder,” Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday night. “We need to find this person, and we need New Yorkers to help us.”
The first shooting happened around 4:30 a.m. on King Street between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, police said. A 38-year-old man was sleeping when the gunman approached him and shot him in the right forearm. The victim woke up screaming, and the suspect ran, police said.
The victim survived and was taken to the hospital for his injuries.
The second shooting happened about an hour later and less than a mile away outside a building at 148 Lafayette St., police said. Surveillance video showed the gunman approach a man as he slept in his sleeping bag and shoot him in the head and neck. The suspect the ran away from the area.
The victim was discovered hours later and pronounced dead at the scene.
“We are not going to rest until we find the individual responsible for this terrible act of taking the life of an innocent person merely as they slept on the streets,” Adams said. “We are calling on the public to help us solve this case.”
Advocates for unhoused populations called on the city to offer shelter to more people who sleep on the street in order to protect them from the shooter, who had not been caught by police as of Sunday, as well as other dangers.
