A black trans man named Thomas J. Heard is accused of attacking random white people in the Bronx in what’s being investigated as a series of hate crimes.
Heard was born a man but identifies as a woman but his legal name is still Thomas.
FIRST ON 7: Woman sprays unknown substance in series of attacks, police launch hate crime investigation https://t.co/osUrwxLc53 pic.twitter.com/ujYOoSlWHu
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) March 10, 2019
Via ABC 7:
A woman was arrested after police say she went on a spree of hate attacks using some type of pepper-spray-like liquid on random strangers.
She was identified by police as Thomas J. Heard, a 37-year-old transgender woman from the Bronx.
She was arrested just after 4:30 p.m. at Crotona Avenue and 187th Street after another woman was threatened with a sharp object. The victim called police to help track her down.
Police are also looking into whether she could be connected to an attack Friday in the Bronx.
In exclusive surveillance video obtained by Eyewitness News, a woman in a light blue jacket violently kicked a random stranger in her leg.
Soon after that, police say she attacked another woman while waiting for the 1 train at West 96th Street and Broadway.
Police are now investigating Friday’s attacks as hate crimes.
Heard was charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime, harassment as a hate crime and assault with criminal possession of a weapon. Police also recovered scissors and pepper spray.
