NYPD officer ambushed, stabbed in neck, suspect shot by other officers

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A police officer suffered wounds following an ambush while stationed to a site to prevent looting.
• Other officers responded to the scene and fired at the suspect after he was seen holding a gun.
• The attack was only one of several assaults against the police since protests over the murder of George Floyd erupted.

On Wednesday, a New York City police officer making rounds for anti-looting incidents was attacked in Brooklyn by a man who stabbed him in the neck. Police reported that there was a struggle following the commotion; the suspect got shot, and two other police officers hurt their hands with the gun blast.

The violence occurred just before midnight, a few hours past the 8 p.m. curfew set to suppress the days of rallies following the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the three injured officers are to recover soon. The man who assaulted them suffered from multiple gunshot wounds and is now in a critical condition in the hospital.

Shea added that the attack seemed to be appalling, cowardly, and unprovoked against the police officers who were doing their patrol job.

The commissioner further noted that the incident was one of the numerous attacks on police authorities in the last few days.

New York City has been shaken with several days of protests against police brutality.  The place where the Wednesday night ambush in Brooklyn happened was only a block away from protesters, and where riot police had a confrontation that lasted for hours a few days ago. During the standoff, a police car was set on fire, and officers hit demonstrators with batons.

While the rallies and demonstrations were generally peaceful on Wednesday, police still intervened to break up the crowd as soon as the curfew started by 8 p.m.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who described that night as a tough one, praised the officers for their courage.

Full details of how the assault transpired were still being probed, but Shea said the man calmly came up to the two officers posted in the area by 11:45 p.m. The man suddenly took out a knife and wounded one of them.

Other police officers who were stationed nearby the scene heard the gunshots, and they hurried to the area and saw the man clutching a gun, believed to be taken from one of the officers. The officers who responded then opened fired at the suspect.

Shea also reported that 22 shell casings were gathered from the scene, and he did not confirm whether the hand injuries suffered by the officers came from the firing by their fellow cops.

The motive of the attack is yet to be investigated, and Shea said the police department decided not to identify the attacker.

Source: AOL