By MAURA GRUNLUND

MIRA WASSEF, EDDIE D'ANNA

and KYLE LAWSON

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There is a predator on the loose.

Police are searching for a man in connection with four incidents of attempted rape on women in Tompkinsville, Randall Manor and Brighton Heights early Tuesday morning, police said.

The victims were all accosted in the span of an hour, beginning at approximately 5:45 a.m., according to police.

Their ages ranged from 14 to 64 and they were strangers to the attacker.

A suspect in at least one incident told a victim "I'm going to rape you," according to an account by ABC7.

While he forced his youngest victim to perform a sexual act on him, all of the victims managed to fend off their attacker, law enforcement sources said.

The assailant fled the incidents in a black SUV before he could inflict serious injury, according to sources.

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 5'8", with short spikey hair and was wearing black track suit with white stripes on his pants and a UNK logo on the front of his sweatshirt, police said.

The incidents, as laid out by police, are as follows:

At 5:46 a.m., a 50-year-old female was attacked on the 100 block of St. Paul's Avenue in Tompkinsville;

At 6:20 a.m., a 64-year-old woman was attacked at Henderson and Westbury avenues in Randall Manor;

At 6:28 a.m., a 42-year-old woman was attacked at Castleton Avenue and Hunter Place, Randall Manor;

And at 6:45 a.m., a 14-year-old was attacked at Castleton Avenue and Havenwood Road in Brighton Heights.

BREAKING: Sexual predator at large; 4 women almost raped in Randall Manor/Brighton Heights, police say Posted by Staten Island Advance on Tuesday, September 19, 2017

The woman attacked on St. Paul's Avenue was walking her dog when she was accosted, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. In that incident, the assailant attempted to pull off the victim's pants, according to CBS.

The three additional incidents occurred at bus stops.

The teen girl ran to safety at a deli in the 400 block of Castleton Avenue.

"She was so shaken up, she couldn't speak," said deli worker Nicholas Aguilar. "She was very, very scared."

Havenwood was blocked off with caution tape by police at that location.

One of the victims who reportedly was choked was taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton. She had scrapes and bruises, including redness on her neck, according to police.

The other assault victim initially refused medical attention, police said.

A large number of cops remain in the area as a massive NYPD search for the suspect remains underway.

Several schools in the area were on lockdown for most of the day, including Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61) at 445 Castleton Ave., where police cars were posted outside.

NYPD helicopters were seen flying over Allison Pond Park, Snug Harbor and the woods at Children's Aid Society at Goodhue Center in an apparent search for the suspect.

This is a developing story. Further information will be added as it becomes available.