A career criminal, accused of shooting a tourist in Manhattan in order to rob him of his pricey $100,000 Richard Mille watch has appeared in court on charges of attempted murder.
Nathaniel Owens, 35, who was already on parole for weapons charges from 2012 is the prime suspect in an attack on tourist Pierrick Jamaux, 33, that occurred outside a hotel in Midtown in March.
Prosecutors say Jamaux, who was visiting the city from Hong King with his Australian model wife, Sarah Watts, 26, was attacked by Owens who shot him five times in the groin and legs in order to get at his watch.
Jamaux, a cryptocurrency expert, would often show off the flashy timepiece on social media. At the time of the assault he said that he had ‘absolutely no clue who did this’ and that it was ‘to steal my watch.’
Nathaniel Owens appears in Manhattan Supreme Court on attempted murder charges stemming from the March 2020 shooting of a tourist outside of a Midtown Hotel whom he targeted to rob of an expensive watch
Owens has a lengthy rap sheet having been arrested 18 times since 2012. It includes charges for drug possession, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Owens has two prior illegal gun convictions from a incidents in 2005 and 2012
Owens has a lengthy rap sheet having been arrested 18 times since 2012. It includes charges for drug possession, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Owens has two prior illegal gun convictions from a Brooklyn incident 2005 and 2012 in Queens.
He had also been in state prison for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon but was paroled in March 2018.
According to Assistant District Attorney Diana Serebrenik after Jamaux’s shooting surveillance video shows Owens changed his clothes before and afterwards.
He faces a minimum of 20 years to life in jail if convicted.
The entrepreneur was visiting from Hong Kong with his model wife, Sarah Watts, 26 (pictured together). At the time of the robbery he was wearing a $450,000 Richard Mille watch (pictured)
Speaking from his hospital bed in New York in March, entrepreneur Jamaux told DailyMail.com: ‘Given the fact he was waiting there when we arrived and also the violence of the crimeI believe he followed me.
‘Someone knew I had the watch and somebody knew I’d be back in the hotel at that time,’ he said.
‘I believe they found me somewhere, then they tracked me for a few hours or days to figure out what I do, where I go. I think it was organized.’
He added: ‘It cannot be a coincidence because it happened between the Uber and the door of the hotel – there is two meters of distance. The guy was waiting for me there is no doubt about it.
‘He started shooting me even before I understood he wanted my watch and from then I was just pushing the gun down and he kept shooting my legs, it was crazy.
‘I know he shot five times but I think some of them went through both legs. Three of them are point-blank shooting. I have a lot of bullet holes.’
A 25-year-old female friend of the couple jumped on the robber’s back and began to choke him.
‘She is one of my really good friends, she is fiery,’ Jamaux joked, adding that she’d had a few drinks. ‘She jumped on his back and she did a triangle-like choke like in MMA.’
The bullets shattered his femur bone and severed his femoral artery, and he quickly passed out in the street as he began to bleed out.
Pierrick Jamaux, 33, (pictured inside the ambulance) was shot five times in the legs during an attempted robbery outside his hotel in NYC
The NYPD released images of the man who shot Jamaux during an attempted robbery in Midtown Manhattan
The attacked occurred on March 18 as the couple and another woman got out of an Uber outside the Fifty Hotel and Suites in Manhattan
The suspect was unable to wrangle the pricey watch from Jamaux’s wrist because of its bracelet security mechanism.
The attempted robber got away with a female accomplice in a black four door sedan BMW.
Miraculously, Jamaux survived the shooting, and credits New York hospitals’ experience with tackling shootings for his recovery.
‘They hit my femoral artery – it’s something where you usually die in 5 minutes – it was a major surgery to save my life,’ he said. ‘If you are going to get shot, the US is the best place to survive a gunshot wound.
‘I feel like the doctors really know what they are doing. I think they unfortunately have a lot of practice.
‘I was surprised when I talked to one of the doctors here. I said ‘does it happen often?’ and he was like ‘yes’ without hesitation.’
Jamaux works in Hong Kong for Hi, an online banking planform dealing in cryptocurrency, savings and investments
Jamaux lived in New York for a year about a decade ago and said the city felt safe at the time. Often on his business trips, he hires a bodyguard, but didn’t know he would need one in the Big Apple. He is pictured here with his wife
‘You don’t need to be a genius to realize New York is very very dangerous right now. I don’t think it’s safe for anyone. There are too many people who have nothing to lose,’ Jamaux told DailyMail.com
Overall crime in the city is up more than 45 percent since the same period last year
Jamaux lived in New York for a year about a decade ago and said the city felt safe at the time. Often on his business trips, he hires a bodyguard, but didn’t know he would need one in the Big Apple.
‘Because I thought New York was safe, I did not think I needed any security in New York,’ he explained. ‘A few days before the shooting we walked for one block around midnight and I did not feel safe at all.
‘If I knew New York had changed like that, I would never have come here. I probably would have diverted my business trip and stayed in Europe.
‘You don’t need to be a genius to realize New York is very very dangerous right now. I don’t think it’s safe for anyone. There are too many people who have nothing to lose.’
Jamaux works in Hong Kong for Hi, an online banking planform dealing in cryptocurrency, savings and investments.
The entrepreneur has also worked in Paris, where he hails from, New York City and London before he settled in Hong Kong to work with the cryptocurrency company in 2019.
Jamaux was sporting a Richard Mille watch when the attack took place. The watches cost on average, $200,000, with some designs fetching for as much as $1.3 million.
The attempted robbery comes amid a dangerous crime wave in the once-safe city.
The arrests comes as New York is in the middle of a crime surge, with overall crime up 42 percent.
The Big Apple is having an increasing problem with ghost guns and other weapons, with shooting victims up 4.4 percent. Assaults and robbery are also both up 20 and 45 percent, respectively.
Last week, Mayor Eric Adams said that New Yorkers can look forward to a ‘visible difference in policing in the next couple of weeks.’
Police are seen at the scene of Jamaux’s shooting in Midtown Manhattan on the evening of March 18
Jamaux, 33, (pictured inside the ambulance) was hastened to hospital after the shooting. He almost died when one of the bullets severed his femoral artery
The robber got away with a female accomplice in a black four door sedan BMW, the NYPD says. The Department released this video of the getaway vehicle
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