Suspect In Apparently Random Slashing Of 2-Year-Old In Custody
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced a man was arrested Friday after a toddler was targeted in an attack while out with his babysitter earlier in the week.
Police say Anthony Gonzalez, 35, is charged with felony assault after allegedly attacking the boy around 9:30 a.m. on July 1 at the corner of West 110th Street and Morningside Drive. The NYPD released surveillance video of the suspect running away.
The boy's father told CBS2's Natalie Duddridge his 22-year-old nanny was pushing his son in a stroller, when a man approached them, then sliced the 2-year-old above his right eye with an unknown object.
"My wife is horrified. My son is very nervous. Both under stress. Our nanny took the day off today because she has panic attacks. Not so good," the boy's father told Duddridge on July 2. He didn't want to share his name.
The nanny told police no words were exchanged between her and the man, she just heard the toddler cry out when the man got close. She didn't notice a weapon.
"She told me that some guy leaned over the stroller and cut my son and then she immediately notified 911. Notified my wife. He went to the hospital, he got stitches done," the father said. "I think it's a random attack. I think we just got very unlucky."
The boy is recovering at home and is expected to be OK.
Police told CBS2 an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip based on pictures and video from the scene led them to arrest Gonzalez.
It's still unclear what type of weapon was used to cut the child or why the boy was targeted.
Police say Gonzalez has a criminal past, including more than a dozen arrests for robbery, menacing, possession of stolen property, harassment and stalking.
He recently served time for a robbery in the transit system and was paroled in November 2019.
In 2012, Gonzalez was arrested and convicted for robbing a man on a Brooklyn-bound R-train at Canal Street and Broadway in Manhattan.
He took the victim's cell phone and punched the man in the face, police said.
