3 law enforcement officials close to Instances Sq. injured in machete assault on New 12 months’s Eve: Officers

Three New York Metropolis law enforcement officials had been injured in an “unprovoked” assault with a machete close to Instances Sq. on New 12 months’s Eve, allegedly by a 19-year-old man from Maine. Investigators are probing whether or not he got here to the annual ball drop particularly to wage an assault on legislation enforcement, sources informed ABC Information.

The incident occurred simply after 10 p.m. on Saturday close to West 52nd Road and eighth Avenue, outdoors the safe space that had been arrange for New 12 months’s Eve celebrations, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell informed reporters at a information convention at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital.

“Unprovoked, a 19-year-old male approached an officer and tried to strike him over the top with a machete,” Sewell mentioned. “The male then struck two further officers within the head with the machete.”

One of many officers fired their weapon, hanging the suspect within the shoulder, Sewell mentioned. The suspect was taken into custody, she mentioned.

The three officers had been taken to Bellevue, Sewell mentioned.

Whereas a motive stays underneath investigation, authorities aren’t ruling out the likelihood that the suspect, whose identify has not been launched, got here to New York Metropolis particularly to assault law enforcement officials on the Instances Sq. ball drop, legislation enforcement sources informed ABC Information.

Federal and native legislation enforcement investigators are combing by the suspect’s on-line postings, which preliminarily point out latest extremist Islamic radicalization, the sources mentioned.

The suspect has no prior arrests, however his latest habits prompted a involved member of the family to report him to the authorities, the sources mentioned. Particulars of what prompted the report weren’t disclosed, nor whether or not it led to legislation enforcement making contact with the suspect previous to Saturday night time.

Each federal and native legislation enforcement burdened at Sunday morning’s information convention the assault gave the impression to be an remoted incident and there was no bigger risk.

One of many injured officers, an eight-year veteran of the NYPD, suffered a laceration to the top, officers mentioned. One other damage officer had simply graduated from the police academy on Friday, and as is historically the case, his first project was the New 12 months’s Eve element in Instances Sq.. The rookie officer was additionally struck within the head, leading to a cranium fracture and enormous laceration, officers mentioned.

“We’re actually happy by the response and the way our officers dealt with this case,” Mayor Eric Adams mentioned. “All three of the officers are in secure circumstances and there are not any crucial threats to New Yorkers presently.”

FBI Assistant Director in Cost Mike Driscoll mentioned the bureau’s Joint Terrorism Job Pressure is concerned to “verify what’s the nature of the assault.” He mentioned that the FBI believes the attacker was performing alone.

The NYPD launched a picture of a weapon, saying it had been recovered on the scene. The weapon gave the impression to be a Gurkha knife, a kind of curved blade, based on ABC Information contributor Darrell M. Blocker, a retired CIA operative.

Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Affiliation of the Metropolis of New York, mentioned, “Let’s take into consideration these members of the family right here who’re in shock proper now, by no means considering the primary name of the yr could be their son, their husband, their member of the family could be right here in Bellevue Hospital.”

Movies from the scene appeared to point out revelers jogging by the rain as they had been directed away from the scene by columns of law enforcement officials.

David Lyugovski, of California, informed ABC Information that he noticed dozens of officers, some with weapons drawn, working towards the scene of the incident.

“They’re all telling us to go in direction of the viewing space for the ball drop and everyone’s working, everyone’s panicking,” Lyugovski mentioned.

Lyugovski and his brother-in-law, Andrew Dyachkin, of South Carolina, had been in New York to look at the Instances Sq. ball drop, they mentioned in a joint video interview.

“Any individual’s yelling, ‘Settle down, settle down,’ as a result of everyone’s on edge,” Dyachkin mentioned. “Like, I am positive behind all of our minds, now this might be a goal for, , taking pictures.”

He added, “We thought somebody is attempting to shoot, , as many individuals as attainable. One other mass taking pictures.”

One of many officers concerned within the incident had graduated from the police academy on Friday, Sewell mentioned.

Adams spoke on the officer’s commencement ceremony, he mentioned.

“It simply goes to point out you, it might be your first day or it might be your final day, the actions that law enforcement officials should take day-after-day are life-threatening conditions,” Adams mentioned.

ABC Information’ Keith Harden, Patricio Chile, Mark Crudele and Invoice Hutchinson contributed to this report.