Two men, ages 31 and 37, were punched and kicked outside 1190 Broadway in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood after two unidentified attackers made anti-LGBTQIA+ statements toward them, according to the NYPD. The assault happened around 7:30 p.m. on July 31, and police say the attackers fled south on Broadway and remain at large.
According to PIX11, the 37-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, while the 31-year-old was treated at the scene. The NYPD has released photos of the suspects and is asking the public for help identifying them. A separate account of the same attack, reported by the New York Daily News, places the victims on Broadway near West 29th Street in NoMad and says the assault is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force.
What Police Know About the Suspects
The Daily News account describes both attackers as having dark hair and wearing dark T-shirts with light-colored sneakers. One suspect was further described as wearing black track pants with a white stripe and carrying a black bag marked with two large colored dots, while the other wore blue or gray pants, per the same report. Investigators say the pair fled the scene heading south on Broadway after the attack.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), through crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, via the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or by text to 274637 (CRIMES) followed by the keyword TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers can reach Crime Stoppers at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
A Citywide Spike in Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes
The NoMad attack lands amid a broader rise in bias crimes across New York City. Citywide hate crimes are up 12.6% for the third quarter of 2026 and 12.9% year to date, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, as reported by NY1. Anti-sexual-orientation hate crimes climbed from 34 to 52 between January and September compared with the same period a year earlier, the outlet reported, while anti-Muslim hate crimes rose from 18 to 32 over the same stretch. Anti-Jewish incidents still made up the largest share of confirmed hate crimes citywide, accounting for 52.9% of cases between January 1 and September 30, with 245 reported compared with 242 during the same period the prior year, according to the same NY1 report. That rise in bias crimes comes even as major crime overall fell 9.4% year over year between July 1 and September 30, with murders dropping 19.8%, from 91 to 73, per NY1.
Other Anti-LGBTQ Attacks Reported Across the City
The NoMad assault is not an isolated case this year. A 29-year-old man was arrested on Oct. 5 and hit with multiple hate crime-related charges in connection with an alleged anti-LGBTQ assault in the Bronx, according to Gay City News. That outlet reported that the suspect and another individual allegedly attacked a 43-year-old man at Elliot Place and Jerome Avenue on June 25. Separately, in 2023, the NYPD was searching for two people accused of a hate-crime assault near Union Square Park that occurred June 28 near East 13th Street and Broadway, CBS News New York reported.
How the NYPD Defines a Bias Crime
Under NYPD guidelines, a bias incident is an offense or unlawful act motivated in whole or substantial part by a person’s, group’s, or place’s identification with characteristics including race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, ancestry, national origin, or sexual orientation, as determined by the commanding officer of the Hate Crime Task Force, according to the New York City government. The Hate Crime Task Force continues to investigate the NoMad assault, and no arrests had been publicly announced in that case as of the latest reporting.
