Queens great-grandma beaten by unhinged woman on NYC subway train can't shake feeling attacker is still 'behind' her

New York Post

2 days ago

A great-grandmother from Queens who was badly beaten by an unhinged woman in a Midtown subway station last month is frightened to ride the rails after the harrowing unprovoked beating, she told The Post.
Aurore Gonzalez, 73 — who was allegedly pummeled by Marie McWilliams, 36, May 1 — said she can't shake the terrifying feeling that her attacker is still right 'behind' her.
'She hit me as I was stepping off the train and I heard 'bop!'' she told The Post Wednesday — one day after McWilliams was arrested for assault.
8 Aurore Gonzalez, 73, was assaulted on the subway in Midtown on May 1, 2025.
J.C. Rice
'Then I started falling backwards and sliding, and I fell into homeless person's belongings covered in feces,' she said.
Weeks after the nightmarish ordeal, Gonzalez said she still suffers from sleeplessness and anxiety.
'I still take the subway and I look around now,' said Gonzalez, who has five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. '[I'm] looking behind my head all the time. I'm looking for her.'
Gonzalez was riding the Manhattan-bound E train to her job cleaning law offices at around 4:30 p.m when she allegedly heard McWilliams jabbering racist comments to herself.
'She was just talking loud to herself about Puerto Ricans and blacks and saying that they're no good and that they shouldn't be here!' said Gonzalez.
8 Gonzalez told The Post she has been afraid to ride the subway since the assault.
J.C. Rice
8 Marie McWilliams was arrested for the beating.
Steven Hirsch
Gonzalez, who is Hispanic, said she turned around and asked the erratic straphanger, 'Are you talking to me?!'
McWilliams 'didn't say anything' but followed her as she stepped off the train at the Fifth Avenue-53rd Street station — and then she pounced, repeatedly punching her, she said.
'When I was stepping off the train she hit me in the back of the head,' she said.
8 Gonzalez said she heard McWilliams making racist comments before the random attack.
Steven Hirsch
8 McWilliams seen at a subway station on May 1, 2025.
NYPD
8 McWilliams allegedly struck Gonzalez as the grandmother was leaving the train in an unprovoked attack.
NYPD
'She grabbed my bun…and she started scratching me with a blade on my face,' said Gonzalez, who still had two black eyes from the assault Wednesday.
'I [was] bleeding and I fell into a homeless person's crap and I had to go to my job,' she said.
Gonzalez said she now suffers from kidney trouble due to the fall, along with scarring near her eye and migraine headaches.
'This just isn't right. I'm in pain. I have to be on painkillers,' said Gonzalez.
8 Gonzalez told The Post she still has a feeling like her attacker is standing behind her over a month later.
J.C. Rice
8 A bruise seen on the side of Gonzalez's face.
J.C. Rice
'I couldn't sleep for two weeks. The anxiety, I couldn't eat. At night on my job I would just cry,' said Gonzalez.
Asked about her attacker's arrest, Gonzalez said she's 'relieved.'
'I am so happy to hear this. I will testify! She should not have done that. She should keep her hands to herself!' Gonzalez said. 'Have some respect for older people!'
McWilliams was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday and granted supervised release by Judge Marva Brown.