Suspect Wanted In East Harlem Attacks (video)

Police have identified the suspect who they say is wanted in a string of violent robberies in East Harlem.

Investigators believe Jason Commisso, 24, has been responsible for eight attacks of people of Asian descent in the neighborhood since Jan. 17, police said. The latest incident happened Saturday around 10:30 a.m. at a building on East 97th Street.

All of the attacks were within blocks of each other and in each case, the suspect follows victims into elevators and then assaults them repeatedly before robbing them, police said.

The youngest victim was 27-years-old, but the rest were in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

Early Monday morning, new surveillance video was released showing someone using a credit card at a McDonald’s on Third Avenue between 103rd and 104th streets just 40 minutes after it was stolen from one of the victims on Jan. 24, police said.

In that incident, the suspect followed a 47-year-old woman into an elevator and punched her repeatedly before taking off with her purse, police said.

Commisso is about 6 feet tall with brown hair and hazel eyes and weighs around 200 pounds, police said. His last known address was in Queens.

Since the attacks, officers from the city’s hate crime task force as well as cops fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese have helped with stepped up security in the neighborhood.

On Saturday, city leaders in the Asian community held a rally to condemn the violence.

Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.

Video from a MacDonald’s in the area:

Source