

Still from surveillance video of suspect

The man believed to be assaulting Asian women may have posted a suicide note on his website. And in the note, he describes the attacks as "The Nose Game."

According to the NY Times, "Relatives of the man, who was identified by friends and associates as Tyrelle D. Shaw, contacted the police after seeing surveillance video released after the most recent attack on Monday, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. Mr. Shaw’s friends and relatives became increasingly concerned after a post appeared on his blog describing his infatuation with Asian women, claiming a connection to the crimes and outlining his intention to end his life."

In four attacks between last Wednesday, June 10, and Monday, June 15, the suspect has hit an Asian woman in Manhattan with some sort of heavy object in a bag. In some of the attacks, the suspect tried speaking to the victims. One victim told police, "He said all Asian girls doesn't talk to me. He can never get their phone number. I just ignore him. I didn't say anything. And then just after next second he just hit my face."

In a post titled, "WHY I DECIDED TO LEAVE EARTH," Shaw wrote yesterday, "I just couldn’t understand why Asian Women didn’t find me attractive. Suddenly, I assumed the ones that I am attracted to use cocaine so I decided to play a game. Bash Asian Women in the Nose so that they could stop sniffing cocaine and give me a chance. At first I thought I could get away with 1 Million Noses, but at 6th victim I felt a little discouraged. I didn’t even expect to bash The Dry cleaning lady in the mouth. She went overboard with the verbal abuse. That was actually my day off from playing the Nose Game. Yeah, thats what I’ll call it “The Nose Game"." This suggests there are two other victims.

Here's the full post:

I want the media to know that I was very punctilious. I’ve always treated Women with the utmost respect. I never wanted to reach the conclusion that Asian Women would never take me serious, because of the color of my skin. In less than 350 days, I talked to nearly 1500 Asian Women and none of them took time out of their day to say hello. I became furious. I never agreed with violence, but I knew the only way I could overcome that sense of rejection-would start by assaulting the Women that carelessly rejected me. I’m infatuated with the idea of having an Asian Wife and raising Children. I overworked myself for a simple idea of romance. I didn’t expect this amount of attention from the media, but I had to do it. History needed my reaction towards Asian Women. I would like to consider myself a writer, but colleagues would call me a designer or an Artist. I’ve displayed my work at Poplar restaurants in NY like NELLO NEW York where I studied the entire upper Eastside. I’ve also had an Art Show at Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Where I’ve made so many local friends. My blog has over 100 thousand views and my designs are sold at Ame Ame on 29th Street and Broadway Ave. My work has been featured on Humans of New York and Respect magazine. I’m pretty established in the art world. I just couldn’t understand why Asian Women didn’t find me attractive. Suddenly, I assumed the ones that I am attracted to use cocaine so I decided to play a game. Bash Asian Women in the Nose so that they could stop sniffing cocaine and give me a chance. At first I thought I could get away with 1 Million Noses, but at 6th victim I felt a little discouraged. I didn’t even expect to bash The Dry cleaning lady in the mouth. She went overboard with the verbal abuse. That was actually my day off from playing the Nose Game. Yeah, thats what I’ll call it “The Nose Game”. She asked for it. Inform NYPD they could stop searching for me because I’m going to commit suicide. Actually, I’ve already tied a noose to the bottom of an elevator and I’m going to wait until someone pushes a button so that its not considered a practical suicide. This is actually murder. Thank you. I love you.

On Tuesday, he posted, "HELLO WORLD, I’M MOMENTS AWAY FROM LEAVING MY HUMAN BODY. I DISCOVERED A WAY TO MAKE ANOTHER PERSON MURDER ME WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT. I’VE TIED A NOOSE TO THE BOTTOM OF AN ELEVATOR AND I’M PATIENTLY WAITING UNTIL SOMEONE GOES UP LEAVING ME HANGING. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE FOR SUPPORTING MY IDEAS! I LOVE YOU AND I WILL MISS YOU FOREVER. ALSO I’VE SCHEDULED POSTS TO MY BLOG- SO FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS I’LL BE POSTING FROM THE OTHER SIDE. 😇"

Shaw, a graduate of FIT, makes whimsical bow-ties. There are other posts detailing his interest in Asian women.

The Times reports that police are trying to follow up on Shaw's possible locations: "'He’s not known to be living anywhere,' the official said, adding that detectives were working to piece together family connections to determine where Mr. Shaw could be."

In the most recent attack, the suspect pressed his smartphone against a Chinatown dry cleaner's window, showing a "vulgar" message—written in Chinese—about women. When a worker later escorted him out, she was attacked. Here's surveillance video from that incident:

Police have characterized the attacks as a "bias assault pattern." City Council Member Margaret Chin, who represents Chinatown, said yesterday, “As an Asian woman, I am personally disgusted by these racially-targeted attacks. These are clearly acts of hate and ignorance. I urge anyone who knows anything that may help us catch this individual to report a tip. We must catch him before he hurts anyone else. I hope that when this individual is caught, these acts will be persecuted to the full extent of the law as the hate crimes these are."

Anyone with information in regards to any of these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide: do not leave the person alone; remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt; and call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.