Suspect Arrested In Violent East Harlem Elevator Attacks On Asians
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The man wanted in connected with a string of violent robberies targeting Asians in Upper Manhattan has been arrested, police said.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said career criminal Jason Commisso, 34, was arrested Monday night on a Greyhound bus en route to Texas, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.
Commisso was asleep on the bus when he was picked up by a team of NYPD and New Jersey State Troopers around 11:30 p.m. on the New Jersey Turnpike near Morristown, N.J., Browne said.
Commisso got a haircut in an attempt to change his appearance because he knew he was being sought, Browne said.
Commisso used an alias to purchase bus tickets and his final stop was to be San Antonio, Texas, Browne said.
Suspect Arrested In Violent East Harlem Elevator Attacks On Asians
Police have video of him in a pawn shop where they believe he brought property -- a wedding ring and a bracelet -- taken from victims in the robberies, Papa reported.
Commisso is being held in New Jersey and is awaiting extradition to New York City to be formally charged.
Investigators believe Commisso is responsible for eight attacks of people of Asian descent since Jan. 17, police said.
The latest incident happened Saturday around 10:30 a.m. at a building on East 97th Street. Police said he followed a 57-year-old man into the elevator and punched him before robbing him.
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 buildings where victims have been hit include the Washington Houses, the Johnson Houses and Franklin Plaza.
The youngest victim was 27-years-old, but the rest were in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
