Monday, August 29th, 2011

This story kind of got buried by Irene, but police are looking for a violent mugger who targets elderly men. He’s wanted in at least five attacks so far, several of which have occurred in or around subway stations.

DNA info has the story on suspect William Gibbs (aka Michael Johnson). After a string of muggings in Chelsea, police say Gibbs has made his way north to the Upper West Side. He is wanted in connection to the mugging of an 85-year-old man last week at the 72nd Street B/C subway station.

Gibb’s M.O. is to attack his aged victims from behind. In the 72nd Street incident, he’s accused of grabbing the victim’s neck and throwing him to the ground, then taking an unspecified amount of money before fleeing.

Again, the victim in this case was an 85-year-old man…

A previous assault in Chelsea resulted in the victim suffering a stroke. In another, Gibbs is accused of hitting “an elderly man from behind with a blunt object just after 10 a.m. on Eighth Avenue and West 23rd.”

These are broad-daylight attacks.

Gibbs is described as about 5-foot-6 and 210 pounds with a stocky build. Both DNAinfo links include a brief video of the suspect.

Anyone with information about the case should contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimStoppers.com — all tips are confidential.

Filed under: Crime, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Seniors, Transportation, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 1 Comment »
Tags: 72nd Street, Assault, Attack, Chelsea, Crime, Michael Johnson, Mugging, New York City, NYC, NYPD, stroke, Subway, Upper West Side, UWS, victim, Williams Gibbs