The establishment was evacuated after the attack. Two women were injured stabbed on Saturday March 12 inside the MoMA, the prestigious museum of modern and contemporary art in New York, several sources, including the police, said.
The two women, injured “in the back, collarbone and neck”, were immediately hospitalized and “we were told that they would be fine“, said on the spot the assistant commissioner for intelligence and anti-terrorism of the new york police (NYPD), John Miller.
The museum, one of the most visited in New York, located in Midtown Manhattan, was evacuated after the incident, which took place around 4:15 p.m. (10:15 p.m. in France). The police installed a security cordon and the museum was to remain closed on Saturday, noted a photographer from Agence France-Presse on the spot.
The suspect, who had not been arrested late Saturday afternoon, was presented by the police as a regular visitor, whose MoMA membership card had just expired because he had caused two incidents “in recent days” in the museum. On Saturday, when he was refused entry, “he got angry (…) jumped over the reception desk and attacked and stabbed two museum employees several times”, described John Miller.
Several videos and photos posted on social networks or by the media showed visitors leaving the museum, which has masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo, at the time of its evacuation.
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