Teen Stabbed Near Migrant Hotel in Times Square

Senseless violence again bloodied the Strip of Despair on Thursday, April 16, when a 14-year-old boy was stabbed above the left eye at approximately 7:08pm near the Row NYC hotel at Eighth Avenue and West 44th Street.

This incident is believed to have been the result of conflict between the victim and two other teenagers, one in a red hooded sweatshirt, the other in a black hooded sweatshirt, with both youths wearing “shiesty” masks, which have become a de facto uniform among fashionable street criminals since COVID normalized their use in anything but bitter winter cold.

While the use of a “shiesty” mask (aka ski mask or balaclava) by criminals is nothing new (search any newspaper archive for phrases like “masked bandits” or “masked gunman”), prior to COVID the sight of such a mask in non-arctic conditions was widely recognized as something to fear and flee.

In this case, perpetrators are believed to have fled north up Eighth Avenue before officers from Midtown South Precinct arrived. When the cops were on the scene, outside the NYC souvenir shop, at 684 Eighth Ave., they found the victim and called EMS. The victim, who suffered a stab wound above his left eye, was transported to Bellevue in critical condition, which has since been upgraded to stable.

While the investigation is ongoing and NYPD has yet to release any surveillance images of the attack, sources did reveal some details about the victim—a migrant living at the nearby Row NYC hotel—that reveal both the perils of his life, and this highly trafficked neighborhood of tourism and other commerce.

Indeed, this and numerous surrounding blocks of Times Square are a testament to a tourist-economy vigor in an area where porn theaters and bookstores once abounded.

Appearances can be deceiving, however. Take the huge and formerly luxurious four-star Row NYC hotel, at 700 Eighth Ave., between West 44th and 45th streets.

It opened as the Hotel Lincoln in 1928 and underwent numerous changes in ownership, renovations and real estate tumult since. A popular food court, City Kitchen, opened inside the Row in 2015 and closed in 2020 due to COVID.

In August 2022—when its more than 1,000 rooms could go for $400 night—it was announced the Row NYC would be a migrant shelter.

While that initial plan was scrapped when it hit the press, it was revived two months later, with a whistleblower employee revealing the mess that some of the hotel rooms had devolved to by 2023.

What was in it for the hotel, hospitality industry watchers might wonder?

Huge amounts of money. By June 2024—by which time the migrant population was reportedly declining—according to a city Health + Hospitals report, the agency was paying Row NYC $5.13 million a month.

That August, Chelsea News reported on the assault against a Midtown South police officer who tried to stop an illegal moped or scooter on the block. Two of the men arrested gave their address as Row NYC, while a third, female accomplice, got away.

According to police sources, the 14-year-old victim of this most recent Row-related violence, has four prior juvenile arrests, three for grand larceny and one robbery.

“Row NYC Hotel is closed until further notice,” says the website of the victim’s erstwhile home without explanation. “Please check back for announcements and updates.”