Ax-Wielding Man Wearing Halloween Mask From the Purge Movie Slashes Random Female

A man wearing a ‘Purge’ mask attacked a stranger with an ax on the Upper West Side Monday night in New York, police said.

The attacker was wearing a grinning Halloween mask from the dystopian horror movie The Purge, about a fictional national holiday when all crime is legal for a 12-hour period.

The 51-year-old victim and his wife were walking on Broadway between West 60th and 61st streets Monday when the masked man ran up to them around 10pm.

‘I don’t like you! I’m going to kill you!’ the attacker shouted before swinging the small ax and hitting the man in the arm.

The masked man then ran off toward the Columbus Circle subway station.

The couple snapped photos of the attacker with and without his mask. They have been circulated by the New York City Police Department.

The 51-year-old man was sent to Mt. Sinai Morningside with a deep cut in his left arm, police reported. He has since been treated and released.

The NYPD is asking for the public’s help identifying the ax-wielding man who is described as: ‘a dark-skinned male who wore a blue mask, a dark-colored coat, blue jeans and black boots.’

Violent crime has continued to spike in New York City with assaults climbing 18.5 percent and robberies up 6 percent in September. The NYPD reported that it has made more than 3,400 gun arrests so far this year.

Stark data released by the NYPD shows crime rose 2.6 percent overall in September 2021 compared to the same month in 2020, with an extra 243 incidents reported.

It comes as Mayor Bill de Blasio tries to lure tourists and office workers back to the COVID-ravaged Big Apple, with the data likely to deter many over personal safety concerns.

The biggest increase was for felonious assault – or assault with a dangerous weapon – which surged by a shocking 18.5 percent from 1,802 in September 2020 to 2,135 in September 2021, as New Yorkers have been plagued by random attacks in the streets of the city.

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