New York Police shot a man after he attacked an NYPD detective with an 11-inch meat cleaver on Thursday police said. The suspect is said to have struck the detective in the head leaving a 6-inch gash.
There has been a police involved shooting at W32St/Broadway in Manhattan. More information to follow when available.
Police responded to calls of "criminal mischief" at around 5:00 p.m. when the man, now identified as 32-year-old Akram Joudeh, was seen "trying to remove a boot from his car" in midtown Manhattan near Madison Square Garden. By the time officers started to question Joudeh, police said there was already damage to the boot. While being questioned by police, Joudeh reportedly pulled out the cleaver and ran.
Upon arriving at the scene the officers encountered a male who removed a 11-inch meat clever from his waistband & fled west bound.
When police, including the off-duty detective, surrounded the suspect near 32nd Street, sources told the Daily News that Joudeh didn't drop the weapon and "lunged" at officers. The detective reportedly tried to knock the blade out of Joudeh's hand, which is when he was struck by it in the head. Witnesses said they heard police screaming "Drop it!" at Joudeh. Police used a taser on him but it wasn't effective. During the confrontation, another officer got a graze wound in the back, said city officials.
The @NYPDMTS officers pursued the male and put his description over the radio. A responding uniformed sergeant deployed a taser to no effect
"They shot him up," a witness said about the suspect, reported the New York Daily News. "He was hit five or six times. He was laid up on the sidewalk. It looked like he was dead." More than six shots can be heard ringing off in the video above. Photos show one of the police officers and the suspect before they were transported to the hospital.
Joudeh and the officers were taken to Bellevue Hospital. Joudeh is in critical condition and the detective in serious condition.
