New York police shot a man seen wielding a hammer on Wednesday morning in front of dozens of witnesses in midtown Manhattan.
Witnesses and news reports say the suspect is the "Hammer Man," an unidentified individual wanted for felonious assault for a handful of random hammer attacks on pedestrians around New York City in the past week. Police told Mashable they couldn't confirm the identify of the victim, but the New York Post said it was "the hammer-wielding maniac."
NBC New York initially reported that the suspect had been killed in the shooting, but later said he was in "extremely critical" condition. Police wouldn't confirm his condition to Mashable.
Law enforcement sources told the Post that the officers "recognized the suspect from pictures released by the NYPD and stopped to question him."
Police told The Associated Press that officers tried to approach the man, and he apparently grabbed a hammer and lunged at the cops. That's when shots rang out near Penn Station in the middle of a busy morning commute. Footage released by the NYPD shows the scene.
Today's attack on the police officer leading to the shooting of the suspect by police. pic.twitter.com/HFy8iENZPF— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 13, 2015
.@nytimes photo captures moments after police shoot hammer wielding suspect. Female officer on the ground. pic.twitter.com/yDRrPLDHfX— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) May 13, 2015
"I was walking down 8th avenue between 36th and 37th when I heard three gunshots, I looked up and said 'that wasn't real was it?'" one woman who witnessed the shooting writes on Instagram. "Then I ran cuz it was real, a few feet from me a man was on the ground with a hammer in front of him. The cops had shot and caught The Hammer Guy."
I was walking down 8th avenue between 36th and 37th when I heard three gunshots, I looked up and said "that wasn't real was it?" Then I ran cuz it was real, a few feet from me a man was on the ground with a hammer in front of him. The cops had shot and caught The Hammer Guy. #nypd #nyc #imshaking #toocloseforcomfort A photo posted by cloud monzon (@cloudea) on May 13, 2015 at 7:21am PDT
"My colleagues heard four shots and the hammer is still in the middle of the street," said another, who posted a photo of the roped-off intersection and police officers gathered at the scene.
Ripped from the headlines or experiencing it?! It appears that the police got the "Hammer" guy who'd been attacking women in the city recently. My colleagues heard 4 shots and the hammer is still in the middle of the street.... A photo posted by @heatheralessandra on May 13, 2015 at 7:42am PDT
Others reported the shooting on Twitter. Many heard the shots.
Hammer wielding suspect shot and killed by police at 37th and 8 thWCBS radio is first on the scene. I heard the shots pic.twitter.com/GVLY920kxR— Marla Diamond (@MDiamond8) May 13, 2015
NYPD just shot another black man right outside my job, 37th and 8th. Don't really know the details yet.— Joe Muniz (@shutDOWN1027) May 13, 2015
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
Cops just shot a man 5 times in the back outside my office building.— capricornsfire (@capricornsfire) May 13, 2015
More than an hour after the shooting, a hammer was seen lying in the middle of the street.
Photo of hammer in the middle of 8 avenue pic.twitter.com/yCVjgwWFY5— Mary Georgantopoulos (@marygeorgant) May 13, 2015