Three attackers told a woman who who they beat down as she shopped for shower curtains, “This is for Ron,” police said.
Kathy Smith, 55, was at a linen store on 51 East 125th St. when a woman she had never seen before punched her in the face. Then another woman grabbed her hair and pulled her to the ground where a third woman joined in by kicking and punching her, Smith said.
“I was shocked, I thought it was a robbery,” she said. “I kept saying, ‘Why are you doing this?’ They said, ‘This is for Ron.’”
Ron is the name of a man who lives on Smith’s block on 127th Street between Lenox and Fifth avenues. It is also the name of the man’s adult son, Smith said.
When police showed her a surveillance video of the three women entering the store, she recognized a man she believes is Ron’s son directing the women by pointing in the direction of the store. As soon as the women left the store, the man Smith claims is Ron, also ran away, she said.
Because both men are named Ron, she is not sure which one her attackers were referring to. But she says she is certain of who was on the video.
“I know who I saw on the tape,” said Smith, a retired dietitian who has lived in the building for 10 years.
She believes the attack was motivated over a job cleaning up a church next door. Ron and his son recently repaired the church’s roof and installed a new bathroom. They planned to charge the church $2,000 to clean up the backyard space.
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