A suspect initially arrested for a bizarre burglary and arson in a Brooklyn apartment building has now been charged for a slashing spree over the following 24 hours that saw three strangers attacked at random, police said Tuesday.
Odyssey Head, 27, is also now charged with a fourth slashing. He was caught shoplifting a pair of shoes from the Flatbush Burlington Coat Factory on Tilden Ave. about 12:50 p.m. Sept. 14, police say. A store worker made him give the shoes back and Head angrily slashed an 80-year-old customer in the back of his head as he stormed out of the store, according to cops.
Head was nabbed in Coney Island, where he lives, at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and was initially charged with burglary, trespass, and criminal mischief for allegedly breaking into the laundry room of an apartment building on New York Ave. near Newkirk Ave. in Flatbush about 5 a.m. Saturday.
He damaged a washer and dryer and set fire to some items of clothing before running off, police say.
“You could see the smoke coming from the laundry area, it was everywhere in the building,” one resident who lives in the Flatbush Gardens building told the Daily News Monday.
When cops arrested Head for the arson burglary, he was carrying a kitchen knife investigators believe was used in the string of unprovoked slashings.
That spree began just 90 minutes after the laundry room incident, cops said.
At 6:20 a.m. Saturday, he allegedly slashed a a 37-year-old man without warning on the left side of the face on a Manhattan-bound Q train.
The victim got off the train at Church Ave. in Flatbush and alerted police while Head apparently stayed on the subway until the next stop before getting away.
Cops released surveillance footage of the 6-foot-2 suspect hours after the slashing and asked the public’s help identifying him.
But as cops and the public were looking out for him, Head went on to attack two more strangers, walking up behind both on the street and slashing them in the left side of the face, according to police.
At 9:40 p.m. Saturday, Head allegedly slashed a 53-year-old man near New York and Foster Aves., a block from the apartment building cops say he burglarized and set the fire earlier that day, cops say.
Then about 6:55 a.m. Sunday, he attacked a 56-year-old man just outside that apartment building, cops said.
All three slashing victims were taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
Hours before nabbing him in Coney Island, cops identified Head as the suspect in the arson burglary, released his name and a photo of him to the public and asked their help tracking him down. They noted he was believed to be armed and dangerous.
Head’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending Tuesday on charges including assault, arson, burglary, menacing, trespass, weapon possession and criminal mischief.
