The man who allegedly beat four sleeping homeless men to death in Manhattan's Chinatown has a history of violence and a lengthy arrest record, according to law enforcement sources.

Randy Rodriguez Santos, 24, was arrested early Saturday morning when police found him walking near Canal Street while carrying the alleged murder weapon - a piece of metal pipe.

Police told the New York Post that Santos, who is believed to be homeless, has 14 past arrests, four of which occurred within the last 12 months.

He was pictured being walked out of the NYPD's 5 precinct in Chinatown, Manhattan on Saturday.

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Randy Santos (center, in grey) is pictured being walked out of the 5 precinct in Chinatown, Manhattan

Randy Rodriguez Santos, 24, was arrested early Saturday morning when police found him walking near Canal Street while carrying the alleged murder weapon - a piece of metal pipe

Santos (pictured) is said to have been arrested 14 times, four of those times in the last year

Santos was said to have been arrested in May at a Brooklyn men's shelter, where he allegedly attacked another man who was living there, using a metal object similar to the one he supposedly used to kill the four men in Chinatown Saturday.

Those charges appeared to have been dropped because the victim refused to press charges, sources told the New York Daily News.

The New York Post also reported that Santos was arrested in March for groping a 19-year-old woman in Queens and also cuffed in November 2018 for an assault in a Midtown Manhattan store. During that incident, Santos was said to have jumped over a desk, grabbed a man by the neck and bitten him on the chest.

Blood spatter can be seen at one of the Chinatown crime scenes where homeless men were attacked and beaten in the head with a metal pipe by a man, believed to be Santos, Saturday

The NYPD released this photograph showing the piece of metal that Santos allegedly used to beat to death four sleeping homeless men early Saturday morning

Santos (center) is taken out of an NYPD precinct by officers

It's unclear whether Santos was charged in any of those incidents or why he was released from custody following those incidents.

The NYPD officers had responded to a 911 assault call in Chinatown at about 1.49am Saturday, where they found an unconscious man in his 60s on the ground with severe head trauma. While they were there, police were approached by another man, 49, who was also suffering from head trauma.

The 49-year-old was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital where he remains in critical condition.

One body was found shortly after police responded to reports of an assault around 2am Saturday morning in Manhattan (crime scene pictured)

Police stand guard over one of the crime scenes where cardboard boxes that appeared to have blood on them would later be removed by police

The 49-year-old was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital where he remains in critical condition

A man in his 60s and a man, 49, were both found on East Bowery Street. The elderly man was pronounced dead. This photo shows blood splattered along a window at the Bowery crime scene

Close ups of one of the crime scenes, showing blood spatter against a wall (left) and what appears to be a lock of hair (right)

Police are seen here loading cardboard boxes that appears to be spattered with blood into Chinatown's 5th Precinct on Saturday morning

A police officer is seen carrying evidence bags from the crime scenes into the 5th Precinct

'Motive appears to be, right now, just random attacks,' said Chief of Manhattan South Detective Michael Baldassano at a press conference at police headquarters. 'It doesn't seem anybody was targeted by race, age, anything of that nature.'

Witnesses at the scene told offers that 'an unknown male, wearing a black jacket and black pants, struck the victim numerous times in the head with a three-foot long metal object covered in blood,' Baldassano said.

Officers immediately began searching the area for the suspect and found a male fitting the description and carrying the metal pipe, at the intersection of Mulberry Street and Canal Street in Chinatown.

Police said they arrested a 24-year-old man, now identified as Santos, and recovered the weapon without incident.

Officers then expanded the search and found three more victims around 4am.

Two male victims were found in front of 2 East Broadway and one in front of 17 East Broadway.

All three had severe head trauma and were pronounced dead at the scene.

The killings started on The Bowery, which cuts through Chinatown and has for decades been known as New York's skid row, inhabited by homeless addicts and alcoholics

A short time later, police arrested a 24-year-old man who was wielding a metal object in the vicinity of the last three murders

Authorities described the metal object as resembling a pipe. Police said the suspect is also believed to be homeless

Police said during a press conference that the attacks appear to be 'random acts of violence' and the men didn't appear to be targeted

New York Mayor de Blasio said the rampage 'flies in the face of the values' of the city.

'We're stunned and horrified by this senseless act of violence against the most vulnerable members of our community,' de Blasio tweeted. 'We're keeping the victims and their loved ones in our hearts tonight.'

The Post published photos of two of the victims under a white sheet, one slumped in a blood-spattered doorway.

The other lay under a sheet on the sidewalk. The identities of the victims have not been released.

The NYPD is conducting a street-by-street canvass for any additional victims and an investigation is ongoing.

New York City's homeless population has grown in recent years, to a great extent because of the lack of affordable housing.

The killings started on The Bowery, which cuts through Chinatown and has for decades been known as New York's skid row, inhabited by homeless addicts and alcoholics.

During the day, the neighborhood is bustling with small businesses and street vendors offering discount goods, its sidewalks packed with pedestrians.

Late at night, when the shops close, it turns into a quiet, desolate neighborhood that was the setting for Saturday's attacks.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.