New York: at least four dead and one seriously injured in knife attack

Four people, including two children, died during a knife attack perpetrated this Sunday morning in New York, in the United States, report several American media, including CNN. Another person was seriously injured.

The tragedy occurred in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens around 5 a.m. A man then attacked members of his family and killed an 11-year-old girl, a 12-year-old boy, a 44-year-old woman and a man aged around 30, according to police cited by CNN.

The alert was given by a young woman who called the police and assured that her cousin was killing relatives, authorities report.

When they arrived on site, the police came across a man leaving the scene of the tragedy with a suitcase. “They could have easily let this person walk past them with their luggage. Instead, they stopped, asked some questions, tried to get information before they went in there,” New York City Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said during ‘a press conference. “Unfortunately, they met the perpetrator of this incident. He rushed at them. »

Police officers also targeted

It was then that the alleged perpetrator brandished a knife to attack one of the police officers, hitting him in the neck and chest, and hitting his colleague in the head. One of the officers then brandished his gun and shot the suspect, killing him in the incident. The officers were taken to hospital. Their vital prognosis is not in jeopardy.

A fire broke out in the house, preventing immediate emergency intervention. According to police, the assailant set fire to a sofa before fleeing the scene. Once the fire was under control, firefighters found the bodies of three victims. The fourth, an 11-year-old girl, was found seriously injured in front of the house and died in hospital.

Police believe all four victims died from knife wounds. In addition to these four deaths, a 61-year-old woman was hospitalized in serious condition.

The suspect, a 38-year-old man, was known to the police. He had strangled a person in the context of domestic violence in the Bronx, another borough of New York, where he lives. None of the suspect’s motivations have yet been established by investigators, who seem to favor a family affair at this stage.