New York police officer critically wounded in hatchet attack

New York police officer critically wounded in hatchet attack

NEW YORK - A hatchet-wielding attacker charged a group of New York City police officers posing for a photograph on Thursday, wounded two, one critically, before the assailant was shot dead, police said.

The officers had been asked by a freelance photographer to pose for a picture and were gathered on a Queens street at 2 p.m., a New York Police Department spokesman said.

Suddenly a man carrying a hatchet charged the officers, swinging it and striking one officer in the right arm and then swinging it again and striking a second officer in the head, the spokesman said.

The remaining two officers fired their weapons at the man, hitting him. The man, who was not identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 29-year-old female bystander was struck by a stray bullet. She underwent surgery and was recovering at the hospital, the spokesman said.

Both officers were being treated at Jamaica Hospital, with the officer who was hit in the head undergoing surgery and in critical condition. The other officer was in stable condition, the spokesman said.

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