The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is seeking the public’s help in identifying the suspect in a series of unprovoked assaults against Asian-American women in the span of two hours on Monday.

On Tuesday, the NYPD released footage captured of the suspect, a young light-skinned male with blonde hair, on surveillance cameras in Midtown Manhattan. The police allege that he is the one responsible for each of the attacks and they are beseeching the public to provide any tips to identify him.

The attacks began at about 6:30 PM in Midtown Manhattan when the suspect allegedly punched a 57-year-old woman in the face before running off. In the next twenty minutes, he punched four more women between the ages of 19 and 25 across the area.

At about 7:25 PM, the suspect elbowed another 25-year-old woman in the mouth. His last victim was attacked an hour later at about 8:37 PM when he punched a 20-year old woman in the face before shoving her to the ground.

There appeared to be no prior interaction between the suspect and the women, all of Asian descent, before the attacks took place, leading the police to suspect that they were the victims of a hate crime. The case has been handed to the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, a unit set up during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the surge in attacks against members of the Asian-American community. According to the unit, attacks went up by as much as 361% last year alone.

These attacks follow a series of violent assaults on Asian-American women that have rattled the Big Apple.

On Feb. 14, 35-year old Christina Yuna Lee was stalked to her apartment by a man before she was stabbed to death in her bathroom. Earlier in January, 40-year old Michelle Go was shoved into an oncoming train and killed near Times Square by a mentally ill homeless man.

New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams a former NYPD captain, vowed to not let violence against Asian-Americans go "unchecked."

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