Residents and leaders of parts of New York City’s Brooklyn community on Friday held a rally to denounce the so-called “knockout game,” a violent trend in which youths punch unwary victims as they walk down the street, CBS New York reports.
“We are stressed out, but we refuse to be knocked out in our community,” Leticia Smith of the Brown Memorial Baptist Church said, CBS reports. “We are asking our mothers to make a recommitment to pay more attention to our children.”
In recent weeks, several attacks have occurred in Brooklyn. One victim was a 78-year-old grandmother and another was a 12-year-old boy. And on Friday, police released video surveillance images of a man connected to the assault of another elderly woman in Brooklyn. The 76-year-old victim was approached from behind and punched in the head while walking in East New York, police say. She was treated at a local hospital and released.
In yet another incident, a young man punched a 72-year-old woman in the face as she walked two blocks from her home at a Brooklyn housing complex.
The attacks are causing increasing concern among citizens and law enforcement officials as videos from across the nation surface on the Internet of young suspects randomly punching innocent victims. A community activist with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network has urged social media companies and news sites to stop showing images of these attacks, because the attention only fuels the violent behavior.
Read more at CBS New York.