A series of slashings in Brooklyn over the weekend, which left three people injured, has been linked to one Odyssey Head, a 27-year-old Brooklyn man who has also been charged with burglary and arson, as reported by Gothamist. Head was arrested yesterday after allegedly setting a fire in an apartment building's laundry room on Sunday morning, though no injuries were reported from the blaze, according to law enforcement authorities.
These incidents began with an attack on a Q train passenger at the Church Avenue station around 6:30 a.m. Saturday and continued with two other assaults over the weekend, one on Saturday night and another early Sunday, with the victims ranging in age from 37 to 56; they sustained cuts on the left side of their faces, all of them were taken to Kings County Hospital and listed in stable condition, indicated by the police. The New York Post noted that Head has a history of prior arrests, with the most recent being for an armed robbery back in 2014.
Head is currently facing multiple charges including three counts of attempted murder, three counts of menacing, and three counts of criminal weapons possession in connection to the slashing spree; additionally, seven counts of assault charges have been added to his list, with police yet to confirm whether these are related to the slashings or other incidents, as stated by the Gothamist. The NYPD has reported that Head resides in Coney Island and was undergoing evaluation at a hospital at the time of his last update, awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
While the motivation behind these acts remains unclear, officials described the slashings as seeming to be random, which added an unsettling randomness to the weekend events, raising alarm in the Brooklyn community which was already grappling with Head’s other alleged crimes including the arson and burglary for which he slipped into a New York Avenue building before dawn on Saturday set fire to clothing inside a washing machine, and dryer then fled, as the Post covered in their earlier report. No further details have been provided regarding Head's legal representation or next court appearances at this time.
