- Two teens, ages 11 and 12, threw glass bottles of alcohol from the 32nd floor of a hotel near Times Square, injuring a 24-year-old woman below
- The perpetrators were staying with guards at the InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel, and the 12-year-old was charged with reckless endangerment
- The incident happened just before 5pm on Friday and caused temporary panic. Some mistook it for gunfire and an hour-long road closure
A 12-year-old child has been charged with reckless endangerment after throwing a bottle of alcohol from the 32nd floor of a New York hotel tower.
A woman was injured when the bottle fell to the ground, hitting her in the head and breaking into pieces at Intercontinental Times Square.
The incident initially sparked panic and led to West 44th Street between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue being closed briefly just before 5 p.m. Friday evening after people on the street below believed the noise was it was shots.
The perpetrators also included an 11-year-old girl who was staying at the hotel with her guardians when they carried out the reckless stunt.
Two teens, ages 11 and 12, threw glass bottles of alcohol from the 32nd floor of a hotel near Times Square, injuring a 24-year-old woman below
Officers closed West 44th Street near Eighth Avenue for an hour while police investigated
The 12-year-old was charged with reckless endangerment as a juvenile, while the 11-year-old was not charged because of her age.
The bottle thrown is believed to have been a type of shooter's bottle, often found in a hotel's minibar.
Despite its relatively small size, a 24-year-old woman sustained a cut to her head from the glass. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is reported to be in stable condition.
“It sounded like an explosion or shots,” shouted a passerby.
A 24-year-old woman was injured after she was hit by one of the bottles and sustained a cut to her head
The miniature bottles were thrown from the 32nd floor of the 36-story hotel near Times Square
“I can understand why people thought it was gunfire.” “When something falls 32 stories and hits the ground, it makes a loud noise,” an NYPD officer told the New York Post.
The road closure lasted more than an hour and prevented customers from leaving the car park.
An employee at a nearby Shake Shack location told the Post they thought someone had tried to jump out of one of the hotel windows.
Workers had to shelter in place for more than three hours.
“I thought it was suicide.” “Everyone looked up when I went to work,” Maria Vasketsova, 21, who works at the sugar factory, told the newspaper.
The incident came just hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said security would be increased around Times Square ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations on Sunday evening
The incident came just hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said security would be increased around Times Square ahead of the city's New Year's Eve celebrations on Sunday night.
Although there are currently no apparent security threats associated with the celebrations in the heart of Manhattan, the New York Police Department (NYPD) is taking precautionary measures.
Pro-Palestine groups have expressed their intention to protest in Times Square against Israel's military operation in Gaza, which has already disrupted the Thanksgiving parade and the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
Mayor Adams held a press conference alongside senior NYPD officials on Friday afternoon, emphasizing their continued vigilance due to previous incidents, such as an attack on NYPD officers during the ball drop in Times Square last year.
“There are no specific threats to the city, but as we saw last year, you don't have to have a specific threat to have a threat, and we will be ready,” the mayor said.
“Hundreds of thousands of people will be lining up out here and no matter how many times we see it, you never get used to it, the excitement stays over and over again,” he said.
Times Square will be closed from around 12pm on New Year's Eve and anyone wishing to enter the area will have to pass through police checkpoints and security checkpoints.
A 12-year-old child faces charges after throwing alcohol bottles from the 32nd floor of the Times Square Hotel, hitting a 24-year-old woman in the head