NY media are identifying the suspect in a meat cleaver attack on a NY police officer as Akram Joudeh.
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An illegally parked vehicle being wheel locked was the alleged spark that set off a madman who hit a NY police officer in the head with a meat cleaver.
Witnesses say they saw a man at the scene waving what looked like either a butcher’s knife or meat cleaver near Madison Square Garden.
Two other officers suffered non life-threatening injuries.
A taser was initially used to tame the suspect after he refused to drop the weapon, but it had no effect.
Police Commissioner William Bratton, on his final full day heading the department, heaped praise on the responding officers and defended their actions after being questioned by reporters about so many shots fired.
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.
Members of the public also reported hearing gunfire as the suspected attacker was shot by police. “They shot until the threat was stopped”. Scores of police officers converged on the area. Joudeh was in critical condition and underwent surgery.
Detective O’Donnell is recovering in the hospital as well.
According to police records, Joudeh has more than a dozen prior arrests, including one in July for carrying knives near a synagogue in Brooklyn. While running, the chief said Akram ran into the front grill of a marked police cruiser, at the same time as an off-duty detective tried to intervene.
The FBI is sending agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force to the scene as a precaution, an official said.
Earlier, NYPD spokesman Peter Donald confirmed the suspect assaulted an officer with an object on W 32nd and 7th.
It has not been determined how these injuries were sustained at this time.
“You have a character running down the street with a meat cleaver”, Bratton said at the news conference.
“He just looked like a insane guy with a huge weapon”, said Mr Schneier.
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Some of the witnesses claim that Joudeh’s actions made him appear wild and deranged during the incident on Thursday.
