Six arrested in stabbing near Times Square migrant shelter
A 22-year-old Queens man was one of six people arrested for a bloody brawl that broke out steps from a Times Square migrant shelter and ended with a 17-yearold boy being stabbed in the back, police said Saturday.
Michael Colome was charged with gang assault, assault and weapons possession for the Thursday night clash on 42nd St. near Eighth Ave.
The clash occurred steps from the Candler Building, a vacant office tower that has been converted to a migrant shelter and was the scene of a caught-on-video attack on cops that roiled the city in January.
At arraignment Saturday in Manhattan Criminal Court, Colome’s bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 insured bond.
Colome lives in Queens and doesn’t appear to be a migrant, police said. He was arrested with three 16-year-old boys and two 14-year-old boys, who are facing the same charges.
Sixteen others involved in the brawl were still being sought by police.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the 5:30 p.m. Thursday clash. During the fight, someone pulled out a knife and chased about a dozen people down Eighth Ave., witnesses told the Daily News.
At the same time, officers patrolling on foot near the intersection spotted the fight and ran after the person carrying the knife, cops said.
“It was like 10 or 15 of them and they were just running back and forth,” said witness Michael Williams. “The cops were chasing the one with the knife as he ran down the block.”
The teenage victim, who is believed to be a migrant, had been stabbed in the lower back before his attackers were apprehended.
“The knife was still sticking out of his back when he went down,” said Mohamed Belal, who sells hot dogs on the corner. “The one guy was on the ground, and his friends ran from the guy with the knife.”
Medics rushed the teen to Bellevue Hospital, where he was expected to survive.
A police source told The News at the time that all those involved in the fight were migrants but couldn’t provide further details. Colome and the teens arrested were caught on video coming and going from the Candler Building shelter, police sources said.
On Jan. 27, a group of migrants was caught on surveillance camera beating on an NYPD lieutenant and cop outside the Candler Building. Eight migrants have been arrested for assaulting those officers.
On Feb. 15, residents of a migrant shelter on Randalls Island were caught on video hurling debris and other items at police trying to remove a disorderly man from the premises.
One cop was beaned in the head with a backpack as shelter security surrounded the cops to protect them.
These clashes have amplified the ongoing strife between police and the city’s migrant population, officials said.