A Man Attacked A Police Officer With A Meat Cleaver In Midtown Manhattan

Some distressing news arrived out of New York City this afternoon when a man reportedly attacked an NYPD officer with a meat cleaver. The incident took place mere blocks away from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.

The facts of this case present a grim picture, according to CBS New York. One officer sustained a laceration wound, and another officer reportedly suffered a minor injury on his back. Shots were immediately fired by police after the cleaver attack, so the second officer may have been grazed by a bullet, rather than the cleaver. Both officers and the attacker, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds, were ferried away by ambulance.

The New York Post fills in details to this story, including how the attacker struck the first officer in the head with the cleaver. The attacker is reportedly in critical condition, and The Post notes sources who call him an “emotionally disturbed person.”

Fox 61 reports that the police response in the area was “massive.” From a nearby vantage point, Christopher Okada captured and tweeted this video. He reports hearing eight to nine shots fired.

Anthony DiLorenzo of Pix11 News was one of the first people on social media to tweet news of this incident.

(Via CBS New York, New York Post & Fox 61)