NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Muslim teenager was attacked in a potential hate crime on Wednesday while riding the New York City subway to school when an unidentified man called her a “terrorist,” police said.
The 16-year-old girl was riding the southbound 5 train towards Union Square at around 9 a.m. when she was verbally and physically assaulted.
The suspect sat down next to the young girl and told her “you’re a terrorist, you don’t belong here," before pulling on the hijab she was wearing, police directly involved in the case told NBC.
A fellow female passenger intervened and the suspect ran away.
The police are currently conducting a thorough investigation, treating the incident as a potential hate crime.
"I’m very sorry for her and her family and everyone in the city,” Detective Mohamed Amen told NBC. “We are going through a challenging time right now. But I want to assure her and everyone that the police department is really looking after everyone in the city.”
This incident is part of an alarming increase in hate crimes in New York City, a trend that has seen an uptick following the deadly Hamas terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Prior to the attack, the NYPD had already documented 161 anti-Jewish motivated complaints in 2023. In the time since, an additional 35 complaints have been filed.
Similarly, anti-Muslim motivated incidents have risen, with seven complaints registered before Oct. 8. and five more in the past three weeks.
Reflecting a potential nationwide issue, this incident follows the tragic hate crime killing of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy.
Last week, a man wearing a turban and mask was violently attacked on a bus in Queens, marking another instance of hate-crime.
The Department of Justice defines hate-crime as "a crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability."