David Gozalez (NYPD)
July 9, 2019 By Christian Murray
The police are looking for a man who allegedly attacked a transgender woman with pepper spray in Jackson Heights last month—just hours after the victim had been attacked in a similar incident by a hate-filled woman.
David Gozalez, 34, allegedly attacked Bianey Garcia, 29, with pepper spray at around 4:18 a.m. on Saturday, June 29 at Roosevelt Ave. and 82nd Street, according to police. Garcia was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition to treat her eyes.
The incident came shortly after Garcia was attacked at 2:35 a.m. in the same area in Jackson Heights.
In that incident, a man and a woman allegedly started shouting anti-transgender slurs at Garcia and a friend.
The woman, later identified as Paola Custodio of Elmhurst, then sprayed Garcia with a substance believed to have been pepper spray, according to police.
Custodio, 24, was arrested soon after and charged with assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment.
The police were unable to confirm whether Gozalez was the man who accompanied Custodio at the time of the first attack.
David Gozalez is described as being 34 years of age and about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds.
Anyone with information in regard to Gonzalez’ whereabouts is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
