Panic in Times Square: Mentally ill woman stabs person to death
Armed with kitchen knives, near a police station: A mentally ill woman stabbed two people in the central square of New York and was shot to death by police. The death of one of the victims was confirmed later. Police: It was a robbery attempt that went wrong.
A mentally ill woman, armed with two kitchen knives, stabbed a woman to death tonight (between Monday and Tuesday) in Times Square in New York. She wounded another man seriously and was shot to death by local police after she refused police calls to drop the weapon.
According to police sources, the incident began around 16:30 (New York time), in the area of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, not far from the police station in the central square. The attacker was documented wearing a pink shirt and a side bag, and according to the sources, she confronted police forces at the station and waved one of the knives at them. She stabbed the two victims before the forces arrived.
The police officers said they first tried to use Taser guns to neutralize her, but the suspect pulled the darts from her body and continued to advance toward them. At this point, they opened fire. Emergency teams evacuated the three wounded to hospitals, and shortly after, the death of both women was confirmed, while the man's condition remains serious.
Several videos of the moments of panic were distributed on social media, in which passersby and tourists are seen fleeing the square. In one of the videos, they are seen running and shouting while the police are already surrounding the suspect, who is still standing. Currently, the roads between 42nd Street and 47th Street have been blocked to traffic, and heavy traffic jams have formed in the area. Police sources clarified that there is no fear of a terrorist incident and that the event apparently began as a robbery attempt.
