The NYPD is looking for a suspect who slashed a man and threw around hate speech during a fight in Washington Heights.
Authorities say that at 7 p.m. on Oct. 23, police responded to a 911 call regarding a man who was assaulted at 600 Candy Store, located at 600 West 161st Street. Upon their arrival, officers found a 38-year-old man who had a slash wound to his face.
Police learned that prior to the call, a customer got into a verbal dispute with another customer that turned into a physical altercation. When the victim tried to break up the fight and got into the middle of the two, the first customer pulled out a knife and slashed the victim in the face. During the fight, it was reported that the suspect stated “I hate Mexicans.”
The suspect fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction. The victim sustained a minor laceration but refused medical attention at the scene. There were no additional injuries reported and the Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.
The NYPD released a surveillance photo of the suspect, who they describe as an adult man with a dark complexion and standing 6 feet tall. He was last seen wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt with a graphic on the front, light blue jeans and white sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
