St. Paul police asked for the public’s help Monday to find a man who randomly assaulted or threatened people in the Macalester-Groveland, Merriam Park and Snelling-Hamline neighborhoods.

The man approached six people he didn’t know and either damaged their vehicles, threatened them, slapped them or assaulted them with an object, police said. The suspect has covered his face with a ski mask or scarf, though a teardrop tattoo has been visible under his eye.

On Thursday at 3:40 p.m., officers responded to the area of Wellesley and Cretin avenues after a 73-year-old walking his dog reported a man in an alley pulled out a metal pipe and told him, “Get away from here,” according to Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman. He believed the man was going to hit him, so he ran and flagged down a motorist who called 911.

Others reported the man attacking them on Jan. 7.

At 11:18 a.m., a 53-year-old man said he was walking his dog in the area of St. Clair Avenue and Amherst Street when he was almost struck by a light blue Subaru Outback. He yelled at the driver to watch where he was going, and the driver responded by getting out and slapping the man in the face, Linders said.

Then, officers were sent at 11:25 a.m. to the area of Ashland Avenue and Pascal Street, just over a mile away. A 64-year-old man said he was followed into an alley by a man who got out of a Subaru Outback then ripped off his vehicle’s door handle and used it to damage another door.

When the suspect noticed a 71-year-old neighbor, he asked what he was looking at, slapped him across the face and fled in the Subaru, Linders said.

There were also two reports from Dec. 12 involving the same suspect.

At 12:45 p.m., a 21-year-old man was walking to his car on Dayton Avenue near Fairview Avenue when a vehicle drove past him and turned around. As he was sitting in his car, a man walked up to him and hit him in the face with what he thought was a wrench. He was left with swelling under his eye.

About 45 minutes later, a 19-year-old woman was going to her vehicle on Roblyn Avenue near Cleveland Avenue when a pickup truck pulled next to her. A man threw a Gatorade bottle at her and told her to, “Get the (expletive) out of here, (expletive),” according to Linders.

The suspect has been described as a white man in his 30s, 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 220 to 250 pounds, with a blue teardrop tattoo under his left eye. He was driving a light blue or light gray Subaru Outback, with stolen license plate 454-PPW, this month. In the December cases, he was driving a gray Toyota pickup truck.

“We’re asking people who see anyone suspicious or know who this suspect is to call 911 and report it,” Linders said. “There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason for these assaults or threats, but we certainly don’t want this to escalate.”