William Blount Wiki
William Blount Biography
Who is William Blount?
William Blount was photographed being escorted out of Transit District 20 on Sunday after he was arrested for Nina Rothschild’s hammer attack at the Queens Plaza tube station on Thursday.
Blount, who has been charged with attempted murder, robbery and assault, allegedly kicked the 57-year-old city health worker down the stairs and hit her head repeatedly with a hammer at a subway station, seriously injuring her.
Surveillance footage from outside the station at Queens Plaza in Long Island City shows a man said to be Blount walking with a cane as he approaches Rothschild, as she carefully walks down the stairs to the subway platform. Thursday at 11:22 p.m.
Blount began kicking her in the back and trying to knock her down, but when Rothschild remains on his feet and appears to be trying to slowly run away, she pulls out a hammer, according to authorities.
He then proceeded to hit her over the head 13 times as she struggled, with her final blow knocking her down.
Arrest
Blount, whose last known address is in Astoria, has a half-dozen prior arrests that include burglary charges and criminal possession of a controlled substance, then grabbed her bag and fled, according to the New York Post.
He served time in the late 1980s for attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance, records show.
Officers found the woman lying on the ground, with a fractured skull and lacerations to her head.
Blount reportedly stole two cellphones, debit cards, credit cards and an unknown amount of money from Rothschild, according to police, who was taken to nearby Weill Cornell Medical in critical condition.
Attack
The attack comes just a week after Adams announced his Underground Safety Plan initiative and deployed an additional 1,000 officers, as well as teams of health care workers, to crack down on rising crime in the subways. The attack is the latest in a series of stabbings and robberies that occurred last week on the New York City subway system, which serves more than 3 million people daily.
Adams said NYPD officers would fan out to lines A, E, 1, 2, N and R to ensure public safety.
Both the E and R trains pass through the Queens Plaza station, where Thursday night’s attack occurred. The station is on the eastern edge of Long Island City, an affluent area that is home to many young professionals and where Amazon considered opening its second headquarters in 2019.
An MTA worker at the station told the New York Post that he was shocked by the attack on the community.
“Look around, they’ve done a lot with this area, so it’s generally pretty safe,” he said.
Victim
One of the latest victims, a Trader Joe employee named Kevin Young, received repeated cuts to his face, hand and behind his ear after accidentally colliding with a disturbed passenger on February 12.
The incident occurred around 5:45 a.m. m. at the Union Square subway station on East 14th Street as Young was trying to get off a southbound Q train on her way to work to start her 6 a.m. shift. m.
“Crime on the subway is out of control,” Young, 36, told the New York Post.
“He’s trying to get on the train and I’m trying to get off him and after a shoving match he goes for his knife,” Young recalled.
“I tried to defend myself as much as I could. As soon as I pinned him down, he grabbed his sword and went to work.
