Man with neck puncture wounds dead at NYC shelter, cops say
NYPD detectives are looking for a resident of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter in Manhattan after a 56-year-old man with puncture wounds to his neck was found dead in his bed early Friday morning, a law enforcement official said.
The bloody room with three beds at the city-run shelter located at 400 East 30th St. is a homicide scene and cops are asking anyone with information to come forward, said William Aubry, chief of detectives, borough Manhattan south.
A 911 call alerted EMS and medics found the victim lying on a bed. They pronounced him dead at the scene shortly after 8:30 a.m., Aubry said.
“There is quite a bit of blood,” Aubry told reporters Friday outside the 13th Precinct in the Gramercy Park area.
The latest death comes as the NYPD is reviewing security at the city-run shelter system, where a number of attacks, including homicides, have occurred this year. The police security review, which is expected to recommend improving training programs for shelter personnel, was ongoing Friday, according to Steven Banks, commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration.
There are 30 Department of Homeless Services security guards and 120 contract guards assigned to the shelter, Banks said.
This year, Aubry said, two felony assaults have been recorded at the shelter, both to homeless services employees.
According to the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless, the Bellevue shelter has 230 beds and can take in people around the clock.
The identity of the dead man would not be released until his family was notified. Aubry wouldn’t comment specifically on the cause of death.
A law enforcement source said detectives were looking for a male resident with a history of minor arrests on drug charges. The room was in disarray as if there had been a struggle, the source said.
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