Four Arrested After Separate Random Attacks on Women Who Went on Tik Tok to Highlight Assaults
There have been two arrests in three separate incidents in which three young woman were hit in the face in unprovoked attacks and took to Tik Tok to highlight the assaults. The alarming incidents don’t appear to be connected. At least one perpetrator is still at large.
| 15 Apr 2024 | 11:32
Mikayla Antoninato took to Tik Tok to highlight a random attack against her. Photo: TikTok
Halley Kate McGookin was one of the women who went on Tik Tok to highlight random attacks by an assailant who punched her for no known reason. Photo: Tik Tok
Four men have been arrested in a series of unrelated and random attacks in Manhattan, notably involving alleged violence against women in their 20s and 30s. These incidents gained attention when three of the women took to TikTok to highlight the unprovoked attacks in broad daylight.
Police generally don’t release the names of crime victims, but three of the women who were struck Olivia Brand, Mikayla Toninato, and Halley Kate McGookin, took to TikTok to showcase their injuries as a plea for help to address the city’s random crimes in broad daylight.
In the latest, 32-year-old man Rodric Rodney of 317 E. 187th St. in the Bronx was arrested on April 5 and charged with assault for an attack on a 24-year-old female as she was walking in front of 571 Avenue of the Americas.
Police said Rodney hit his victim in the head with a closed fist on March 26 and fled west on 23rd St.
Brand, whose attacker was arrested but not identified by the NYPD, was punched randomly in the Soho area on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 in the vicinity of Kenmare Street and Mulberry Street while she was walking her dog.There are no arrests, and that investigation remains ongoing.
Police also said a 24-year-old female was punched in the back while crossing the street on March 25, at Chrystie Street and Rivington Street.
In the third incident, a 24-year-old female was hit with an elbow on the left side of her head while walking on 7th Ave. on March 26.
Malik Miah
On Monday, March 25, 27-year-old Toninato was allegedly attacked in Greenwich Village, randomly punched in the face while walking between 14th Street and 5th Ave. The supposed attacker, Mallik Miah, a 30-year-old man who lives in the 1300 block on Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn, was arrested on Thursday, March 28, at 3:30 p.m., within the 6th Precinct.
Prior to this incident, Miah was arrested for assaulting a 53-year-old woman in Fort Greene. He was arraigned and released in Brooklyn. The investigation into the assault on Toninato is ongoing.
Miah was arraigned on March 29 in Criminal Court. He faces charges including Assault in the Third Degree and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree. The People requested supervised release for Miah, which was granted.
Skiboky Stora
On March 25, McGookin, walking in Chelsea, was allegedly attacked by Skiboky Stora, 40, who was arrested on March 29. Stora claims to be Marcus Garvey’s grandson. The 23-year-old female, assaulted on March 25 at West 16th Street and 7th Avenue. Stora was charged on March 27.
It remains unclear what prompted these attacks, and charges against these men have yet to be unveiled. However, in Stora’s case, he allegedly said, “Die, Jew, die,” to McGookin before the alleged assault.
Stora is also recognized as a frequent candidate in New York City’s political scene, having pursued numerous unsuccessful campaigns.
Stora was arraigned in Criminal Court on March 28 on charges including Assault in the Third Degree and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree. Stora’s bail was set at $10,000, $25,000 Insurance Company Bond, and $25,000 Bond-Surety-Partially Secured. His defense counsel is Jeffrey Linehan, and the next court date is scheduled for April 30.
“Now they bring me here and say they have video footage of me punching somebody that I never met and have never seen,” he said. “That’s denying me due process, and the same officer is a white supremacist member who has arrested me.”
Xavier Israel
The random attacks were not just confined to men. On March 31, around between 7: 28 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., a 55-year-old male pedestrian was targeted, sustaining a head injury from an unidentified object thrown by a 27-year-old male suspect, Xavier Israel, a man without a fixed address.
The assailant was apprehended by uniformed officers without resistance at 9 East 91st Street. The victim, declining medical aid, suffered only a neck abrasion. Israel was arrested and charged within the Central Park Precinct at approximately 8:00 p.m. on the same day, the DCPI told Straus News.
Israel was brought to Criminal Court on April 1 on the following charges: Assault in the Second Degree and Harassment in the Second Degree. Israel was granted bail set at $50,000 Cash, $100,000 Insurance Company Bond, and $100,000 Bond-Surety-Partially Secured. His defense counsel is Lizzie-Anne Beal from Legal Aid. The next court date is scheduled for May 1.
Public safety and mental health concerns are receiving considerable attention in New York. The national spotlight is focused on incidents such as shootings in subways and a fatal police shooting in Far Rockaway where a thug out on bail killed three-year NYPD veteran Officer Jonathan Miller. Miller, who was promoted to detective posthumously, left behind a wife and a one-year-old son.