At least one of two serious assaults by a skateboard-wielding attacker in City Heights on Tuesday afternoon was captured by a security camera.
Two men were sent to intensive-care units after being attacked by a homeless man with a skateboard. Both victims were struck in the head 15 minutes and just three blocks apart. Witnesses told NBC 7 that the attacker in both incidents looked similar.
Police on Tuesday described both incidents as attempted murders and said the suspect in the case is 25-year-old Bobby Mikel Lowe.
Both victims are now hospitalized with brain bleeds, according to authorities.
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The residents and businesses around University and Fairmount avenues are used to skateboard traffic on the sidewalks but using a skateboard for an ambush atttack in the middle of the day is a first.
"It's really sad because he's a good person," Giselle Dente said about her friend Jesus Estrada, who was injured in the second attack, near the intersection of Univerity Avenue and 44th Street. "He doesn't hurt nobody."
Police were called out a little after 1 p.m. after Estrada was knocked unconcious by a man who beat him over the head with a skateboard. The attack was recorded by a security camera at a nearby market.
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The second victim was being treated for similiar head wound. Witnesses told NBC7 he was beaten by a man with a skateboard fitting the same description on Fairmount Avenue near Polk Avenue.
It appeared from the video -- and witnesses verified -- that the attack on Estrada was unprovoked. The suspect can be seen in the video approaching Estrada from behind, then swinging the skateboard at Estrada's head
"It's heartbreaking for everybody because you don't want to see a brother or a sister on the streets living like this," Dente said.
Police have identified the attacker as a transient. Amazingly, Lowe was arrested in connection with Tuesday's assaults when he returned to the Fairmount scene while police were investigating. Lowe faces a series of charges, including multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem, and assault with a deadly weapon, as well as a probation violation.
Police told NBC 7 on Tuesday that the suspect had recently been released from jail after being charged in another assault. In that attack, the victim was hit with a pole and was also hospitalized.
