UPDATE: A suspect has been arrested in connection to the attacks and charged with hate crime.
A series of attacks following a similar pattern in a Brooklyn subway station have left women hit from behind, punched in the face and knocked to the ground — with the most recent attack occurring on Saturday, police said.
At least five women have been attacked inside the L train station on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg over the past seven weeks, according to police. The NYPD released a timeline of the violence on Monday, with the first attack coming on Nov. 17, when a woman said she was approached from behind and then punched in the face.
About three and a half weeks later, on Dec. 11, another woman said she was also punched from behind, with her nose and forehead injured in the attack. The day after Christmas, a third female victim said she was walking down the stairs when she was hit, injuring her left eye. And on Dec. 28, another similar attack left bruises on a woman's face.
"He came out of nowhere, he started punching me. He hit my face, my chest, my shoulder," said victim Bianca Fortis.
Police said they arrested a 50-year-old man, charging him with four counts of assault. He was taken into custody on Dec. 30, and released Jan. 1. Just a day later, investigators said there was yet another attack at the same location, with another female victim.
In this most recent violence incident, a woman was walking down the subway stairs when she was pushed and struck in the face. And another woman told NBC New York that she too was attacked on Nov. 11 at the Morgan Avenue station.
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"He was coming down behind me, and he must have — from the angle and from what I've gathered — kicked me in the side of the face and head from behind," said Elizabeth Wakefield. "My immediate thought after it happened to me was, I really hope this doesn't happen again to somebody else."
Police did not confirm to NBC New York whether Wakefield's attack was linked to the others. But she said that after talking with the other victims, "it sounds like similar descriptions of what he looked like and pretty much the exact same style of attack, and the same exact subway stop."
No arrests have been made, and police have not said if the latest case is connected — although Wakefield said she believes it is.
"For sure, the exact same subway stop, it's the same person," Wakefield said.
