WARNING: The video above is graphic.
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The search is on for a man who brutally attacked a woman with hammer during a robbery at a Queens subway station late Thursday night.
The incident happened around 11:20 p.m. at the Queens Plaza E/M/R subway station in Long Island City.
Surveillance video released by the NYPD shows the 57-year-old victim, identified as Nina Rothschild, a researcher for the city's health department, walking down the stairs into the station when the suspect comes up behind her and kicks her in the back.
The suspect then pulls out a hammer, striking the victim at least 13 times in the head.
After the woman collapsed to the ground, the video shows the man take her purse and make his way back up the stairs out of the station. He was last seen walking along Queens Plaza South.
“This is an unprovoked, brutal and appalling crime on a woman who was just trying to get home after a day’s work. A woman who dedicated her life to helping others," said Chief of Detectives James Essig.
The victim, who suffered a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and lacerations to her face, was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she is listed in critical condition.
Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi calls the victim a public health hero for her work. She had just left work and was about to get on the E train, which is a line of priority in the city's new subway safety plan.
The suspect, who is 6-feet tall and was carrying a cane at the time of the incident, was last seen wearing a black hooded coat, a black mask, blue jeans and black shoes.
The incident came on the same day that an on-duty subway conductor was punched in the face on the Upper West Side and a man was slashed in the neck at a station in Crown Heights.
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
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