CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) — A 40-year-old man has been charged in the assault of a TikTok influencer in Chelsea earlier this week as several women have come forward to share similar stories.
Influencer Hailey McGookin — who goes by “Halley Kate” — made a tearful video recalling an attack on March 25 near W 16th St and 7th Avenue.
McGookin posted several times about the assault on social media and within a few days, her story has gotten over five million likes.
Skiboky Stora has since been charged in the attack.
Stora himself has somewhat of a following on Instagram. He maintains multiple TikTok accounts showing him aggressively approaching police and strangers, many of them women. He is being held on $10,000 bail.
This incident comes on the heels of a recent wave of women saying they were also randomly punched while walking in New York City.
Amid McGookin’s viral video about her attack, the NYPD can now account for at least six other punchings where the victims later posted a TikTok describing their experiences between March 17 and March 26.
All of the incidents happened within the last two weeks and all happened in Manhattan — specifically Midtown and below. However, police do not believe any of the attacks are related.
– March 17 at 11:48 a.m.: 25-year-old Oliva Brand says she was punched in the head while walking her dog at Kenmare Street and Mulberry Street in Nolita. She says the man who hit her apologized.
– March 19 at 8 p.m.: 30-year-old Sarah Suzuki Harvard says she was punched on Delancey Street at Essex Street on the Lower East Side. She says she did not report the incident.
– March 23 at 1:30 p.m.: A 25-year-old woman says she was slapped in the forehead by an individual at West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in Midtown.
– March 25: A 36-year-old woman says she was punched in the back by a man who ran up behind her at Rivington and Chrystie streets on the Lower East Side. She reportedly refused medical attention.
– March 25 at around 2 p.m.: 27-year-old Mikayla Toninato says she was punched in the face at West 14th Street and Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village. She says she reported the incident two days later.
– March 26 at 12:43 p.m.: A 24-year-old woman says she was punched in the head in front of 717 Avenue of the Americas in Chelsea. She reportedly refused medical attention. The NYPD released a photo of the suspect who attacked the victim in Chelsea Tuesday afternoon.
Aside from the suspect in McGookin’s attack, no other arrests have been made.
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