The death of a homeless man in New York City Sunday evening is no longer thought to be connected to the attacks on two other homeless men early Saturday, three NYPD officials familiar with the case said Monday.
The incident at 7 p.m. Sunday on Greenwich Street was initially was reported as a shooting, but police said early Monday the 43-year-old, who was in a sleeping bag, had an injury to the pelvis.
The officials familiar with the case said the man was seen alive just a few minutes before the initial call for help. An investigation found no evidence on his body of a gunshot or stabbing, nor could any evidence of criminal activity be found in the area.
Neighbors say the man was known to them, and had quietly lived on their local streets the last few years.
"There's a lot of talk in the city right now about mental illness and people bothering you. This guy was... never said a word to anybody, never put his hand out. This guy was the epitome of peacefulness," Laurence Kretchmer said.
The city's homeless community is still on edge, though, after Saturday's attacks. Both of those victims were shot in Manhattan between 4:36 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday.
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That suspect, pictured below, appeared to intentionally approach the first two men separately on the street and shoot them, cops say. One of the men was on Lafayette Street. He was sleeping in a sleeping bag when he was shot, police say.
According to police, security video showed the suspect, wearing all black and a black ski mask, approaching and shooting the man in the sleeping bag about 10 blocks away and 90 minutes after the first attack.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. A reward in the shooting has increased to $10,000.
Mayor Eric Adams condemned the Saturday attacks as "horrific," and called the video chilling.
"We need to find this person, and we need New Yorkers to help us," he said.
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Adams said a task force composed of police officers and a homeless outreach team would focus on finding unhoused people in the subways and other locations and would urge them to seek refuge at city-owned shelters.
In response to a recent surge in crime on the subway system, Adams implemented an aggressive enforcement campaign to clear the subways of homeless and connect them with shelters, food banks and other services, and also enforce rules barring smoking, drinking, sleeping across train seats, behaving aggressively and riding without paying fares.
In the first week, police said they had arrested 143 people in the city’s subways and removed 455 people from from trains and stations.
The attacks were reminiscent of the beating deaths of four homeless men as they slept on the streets in New York’s Chinatown in the fall of 2019. Another homeless man, Randy Santos, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in those attacks.
