New York City police say a female suspect pushed an 87-year-old woman to the ground Thursday night in an unprovoked Manhattan attack, leaving the victim in critical condition with a head injury.
Police say that at around 8:25 p.m., a woman pushed singing coach Barbara Maier Gustern from behind, as Gustern was walking in the vicinity of West 28th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan, the New York Daily News reported. The victim’s head slammed on the ground and she was left with a serious head injury, WABC reported. As of Sunday, she remained in Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.
Gustern has previously worked with Debbie Harry — the lead singer of Blondie — and a cast of Oklahoma that performed on Broadway, according to the Daily News. Her friend, Barbara Bleier, said Gustern hosted a rehearsal earlier in the evening for a cabaret show. Once the session ended, Gustern escorted the guests to the lobby and headed out for another appointment.
“I was waiting for a car with my colleague … About five minutes later, we heard a pounding at the door,” Bleier said.
“We opened the lobby door and Barbara was covered in blood and a good Samaritan was helping her in, and she said, ‘I never been hit so hard in my life.’ She was lucid at the time. Blood was just coming from her head, profusely,” she told the Daily News.
Police said Gustern was conscious for a time and recounted the incident, but her condition progressively deteriorated after being hospitalized and undergoing surgery, according to the Daily News.
In a Facebook post, her grandson stated she had been unconscious and “suffered traumatic damage to the left side of her brain,” according to the Daily News.
The suspect fled the scene and remains on the loose.
“She is described as having a light complexion and long dark hair and was wearing a black jacket, black leggings, a white skirt or dress and dark colored shoes,” the Daily News noted.
The attack comes as crime in Democratic Mayor Eric Adams’s city has jumped dramatically since he took office. From the time he was sworn in on January 1, through March 6, crime is up a whopping 47.1 percent compared to the same period in 2021, the New York Police Department’s crime statistics show.