A 60-year-old man is dead after an argument inside a Chelsea adult store spilled onto Eighth Avenue and turned into a fatal beating Sunday night, police said. The suspect allegedly knocked the man to the ground, kicked him in the head, and stomped on him repeatedly before running off — only to come back to the area later, where officers took him into custody.
Argument Inside Rainbow Station Turned Deadly
According to WABC-TV, the victim and the suspect got into an argument inside Rainbow Station, the 24-hour adult novelty store and video lounge on Eighth Avenue, around 9 p.m. Sunday. The dispute moved outside the shop and became physical, with investigators saying the suspect pushed the man to the ground, kicked him in the head, and stomped on him multiple times before fleeing the scene. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he later died, police said.
Rainbow Station sits at 203 Eighth Avenue, between West 20th and West 21st Streets, a stretch of the corridor that has operated as a 24-hour adult novelty store, sex shop, and video lounge since the early 2000s, according to an Instagram post documenting the storefront
. The building itself is a 25-foot-wide brick structure dating to the early 1850s, originally home to blue-collar residences and ground-floor retail before it was converted to adult commercial use, per
Daytonian in Manhattan
.
After fleeing, the suspect returned to the area, and officers who spotted him took him into custody, the station's report notes. Police identified the suspect as 25-year-old Imani McColley of Queens, while the victim's identity was being withheld pending family notification. Police have not disclosed what prompted the fight. By Monday morning, McColley had been charged with murder and two counts of robbery.
A Store With a History of Violence
Sunday's killing is not the first violent incident tied to Rainbow Station. In April 2023, a 30-year-old man was arrested after entering the store while banned and slashing a 52-year-old employee with a knife during a physical altercation, according to Chelsea Community News; that victim was treated at Bellevue Hospital. In July 2022, a 38-year-old man was found dead inside a private basement viewing booth at the same store, discovered unresponsive during morning cleaning, which prompted an NYPD inspection that yielded 12 fire, building, and administrative code summonses, the outlet reported separately.
Chelsea residents and block associations along Eighth Avenue have for years raised safety and public-nuisance concerns about adult businesses on the corridor, dating back to at least a 2013 petition effort covered by DNAinfo. The 10th Precinct, headquartered at 230 West 20th Street, patrols Chelsea, Hudson Yards, and Hell's Kitchen South, according to the NYPD.
Rare Homicide in a Precinct Seeing More Assaults
Homicides remain unusual in the 10th Precinct: NYPD crime statistics show zero homicides recorded there in all of 2023, per Chelsea News NY.
The neighborhood has seen other violent incidents in recent months. Hoodline previously reported that a 46-year-old man was stabbed multiple times in the chest in an August attack outside a residential building on West 21st Street, triggering a Level 1 emergency police response.
McColley Charged With Murder and Two Counts of Robbery
By Monday morning, McColley had been charged with murder and two counts of robbery, and police had not said what sparked the argument inside the store.
