Suspect arrested in violent Bronx elevator attack
BELMONT, Bronx (WABC) -- Police have arrested a suspect in connection with a violent attack inside a Bronx elevator.
26-year-old Joshua Marrero of the Bronx is facing charges of assault.
67-year-old Ray Diaz was followed from behind when he returned to his building lobby in the area of Southern Boulevard in Belmont Nov. 1.
"I went downstairs to get a cigarette because I ran out of cigarettes - it was around 11-11:30," he said, "I saw somebody hold the door but I didn't think nothing of it. And I just walked in the elevator."
That man, with a hoodie over his head, asked the victim what floor he was on - and then out of nowhere came the hard blow.
"Somebody knocked me down, I couldn't get up from the floor," Diaz said. "He wouldn't let me get up from the floor. He kept kicking me and kicking me in my face. Only in my face."
The attack was so brutal it left him with severe bruises and cuts to the face and arm.
At first police believed it was a random attack because the victim indicated he did not know the attacker.
But sources close to the investigation said the man later changed his story and told police he did know the suspect, saying the incident stemmed from a past argument the two had.
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