New York police officers shot a man dangerously wielding a hammer at a busy intersection on Monday morning.
According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred just after 10 a.m. near West 37th Street and 8th Avenue. The Daily News reports that the man, 30-year-old David Baril, was connected to multiple recent hammer attacks near Union Square.
The NYPD said that police, who recognized the man, approached him and he started swinging the hammer at a female officer. The hammer was found at the scene when backup arrived.
5 or 6 shots fired right under my window at 37th and 8th Ave. the man is lying dead in the street shot by what appears to be 2 NYC cops.
— Barry Scheer (@scheer_madness) May 13, 2015
No police officers were harmed in the incident, but there are conflicting reports regarding the perpetrator's medical status. According to Gothamist, the NYPD "could not say what the condition of the suspect was," but the FDNY said Baril is at Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
One eyewitness told Gothamist that after the shots were fired, "[the] suspect was handcuffed face down in intersection bleeding." The official Twitter account of the NYPD detailed the incident in a pair of tweets.
Today at ~10am 2 officers approached a man suspected of hammer assaults in Man. When approached, suspect began swinging hammer at officer. — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 13, 2015
As the suspect was swinging the hammer at the female officer her partner did shoot the suspect.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 13, 2015
Check below for social media posts that chronicle what happened, beginning with a NY Times photo that shows the reaction of police officers and eyewitness.
A man shot by an officer in Manhattan might be linked to several hammer attacks, police said https://t.co/r68pReJbM8 pic.twitter.com/tInGNcohBF — The New York Times (@nytimes) May 13, 2015
