Broadway actors John Cardoza, currently appearing in The Notebook, and Michael Stuhlbarg, who begins previews tonight in Patriots, have become the latest victims in what seems a surge of high-profile crimes in New York City.
Neither actor was seriously injured in the separate Easter Sunday incidents.
Cardoza, who plays “Younger Noah” in the musical based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, wrote in an Instagram Story post yesterday that he had been robbed at gunpoint at a Dunkin’ Donuts in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Hamilton Heights.
“It started out with him just asking for a dollar,” Cardoza wrote. “I offered to buy him lunch because I didn’t have cash on me, and it escalated from there very quickly.”
In a second post, the actor wrote, “I really am ok. I feel I should specify that the reason I felt a need to share is because after the incident, this man made multiple attempts to use my credit card. These attempts were in the bodegas and grocery stores and pharmacies along 145th street that we all use every day.”
In a subsequent post, Cardoza thanked people who had reached out with good wishes and concern. “I live in New York and these things sadly happen more often than we think and I didn’t anticipate this going so far beyond my personal story here. I wanted to bring attention to some friends, and to anyone who lives in the area to be careful because it really does sneak up on you and I don’t know where that guy is now. I want people to be well and alert.”
In a separate incident, Stuhlbarg was struck with a thrown rock in a random attack near Central Park on the Upper East Side around 8 p.m. Sunday. Stuhlbarg chased the alleged assailant, 27-year-old Xavier Israel, for several blocks until police apprehended and arrested the man. He was charged with assault.
Stuhlbarg, who suffered an abrasion on the back of his neck, declined medical assistance.
Neither Cardoza nor Stuhlbarg are expected to miss performances of their shows.
Despite repeated assurances by New York City police officials that major crimes are on a downswing, a raft of high-profile incidents including subway shovings and an attack in January on two police officers in Times Square have given rise to headlines and growing concern about crime in the city.