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On September 20, a homeless man in New York was recorded assaulting a woman at the Howard Beach-JFK station in Queens.
In the footage of the incident, 33-year-old Elizabeth Gomes can be seen attempting to flee the suspected assailant, 41-year-old Waheed Foster. Foster catches up to Gomes, seemingly dragging her to the ground before punching her multiple times.
Foster then appears to stomp on Gomes' head, briefly diverting his attention to an approaching bystander who arrives to check on the situation but flees when Foster heads towards him. Subsequently, the suspect returns to a downed Gomes and kicks her multiple times.
Disclaimer: The following video may be disturbing to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
Shortly after the incident, Waheed Foster was taken into police custody. The New York Post reported that as per court records, a judge ordered that Foster be held without bail during his arraignment.
Queens subway attack victim says Foster lashed out at her while "talking about the devil"
In her account of the incident, victim Elizabeth Gomes, who is employed as a TSA Agent, told ABC reporters that she was commuting to work when the assault took place. She said that she was simply walking through the Queens subway station when she encountered Waheed Foster.
While she initially tried to ignore him, she claims that Foster soon got angry and violently lashed out at her while supposedly muttering about "satan." She said:
"He's talking about the devil. He's talking about a whole bunch of nonsense."
She later discussed how traumatic the incident was, explaining to reporters that she was afraid to leave the house.
She said:
“Do you know how scared I am now? I was never a person to be scared."
While serious, Gomes' injuries were determined to be non-life threatening. ABC reported that as a result of the attack, she is unable to see anything on her right side. Gomes also spoke about not being able to sleep owing to the pain from her injuries.
Queens subway attack suspect Waheed Foster has a criminal history
The New York Post reported that the prime suspect in the Queens subway attack, Waheed Foster, has a history of mental illness and violent crime, having been implicated in the 1995 murder of his grandmother. He was only 14 years old when the killing occurred.
In 2004, Foster was accused of attempting to escape a mental institution where he was a patient. In 2010, he was arrested again, this time for stabbing a 50-year-old woman while he was a patient at a mental institution.
In addition to these charges, the New York Police Department announced on Monday that Foster had also been implicated in various other counts of robbery, larceny and criminal mischief, and was the prime suspect in another subway assault last week.
It is unclear whether or not he will be deemed mentally sound enough to stand trial.
