Suspect named in string of hammer attacks

A 28-year-old man was named the suspect behind a string of brutal robberies where the victims were bashed in the head with a hammer, the NYPD said Sunday.

Police are searching for Anthony Coward for allegedly wielding a hammer in three robberies in Brooklyn and Queens since March.

Two of the robberies happened at the Rockaway Avenue train station in Bedford-Stuyvesant within days of each other. In a May 7 attack at 9:20 a.m., the suspect approached a 32-year-old man buying a MetroCard from behind and hit him in the head with the hammer, taking $140 from him. On May 4 at 11 a.m., the suspect pummeled a 23-year-old man with a hammer before taking his wallet and fleeing. Both victims were treated at Brookdale Hospital.

The NYPD says Coward's first victim was a 26-year-old woman who was attacked from behind with a silver hammer on Pershing Crescent in Briarwood, Queens, March 5 at 7 a.m. The suspect stole her handbag and fled. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition at the time.