NEW YORK (AP) — Someone made off with a knife from a crime scene in the aftermath of a weekend police shooting at a New York City subway station, police said Monday.
An image of the folding knife, with a blade about the width of a man’s palm, was released by the New York City Police Department Sunday evening. The department said a man threatened two officers with the knife before they opened fire shortly after 3 p.m., wounding him, one of the officers and two passengers.
On Monday, police said the knife was taken from the scene by another man at around 3:35 p.m. Sunday. The department is now looking for that man, and released an image of a person wearing a blue hat featuring the logo of the defunct Hartford Whalers ice hockey team.
A video from a bystander posted online after the shooting showed a chaotic scene, including upset passengers fleeing, police running to help the injured and the wounded officer suddenly realizing he had also been hit by a bullet.
The scene at the Sutter Avenue station in Brooklyn began at 3:04 p.m., when the two officers confronted the 37-year-old man with the blade, initially following him onto the elevated platform after seeing him enter without paying, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news briefing Sunday.
According to Maddrey, the officers told the man to stop, but he verbally threatened them and they noticed he had a knife. They followed him onto a train that had pulled into the station and fired two Tasers, but neither incapacitated him, The man was advancing on the officers with the knife when both officers fired multiple rounds, he said.
The man was hit several times and remained hospitalized in stable condition Monday. One passenger, a 49-year-old man, was struck in the head and was hospitalized in critical condition. Another, a 26-year-old woman suffered a graze wound.
The wounded police officer was hit under his armpit and a bullet lodged in his back, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
Police and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials say that the encounter, including the officers being threatened with the knife, are captured in video recordings. They have not released the footage.
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