A suspect in New York was undergoing a psychiatric assessment after being arrested Wednesday in a brutal ax attack on a man at a Chase Bank ATM on Sunday evening, authorities said.
Aaron Garcia, 37, was wanted in connection with the ax attack on Tuesday when he was later charged with threatening another victim with a hammer – and using the tool to smash the windows of several parked cars and a restaurant, police said.
Police arrested Garcia on Tuesday evening and transported him to Bellevue Medical Center, authorities said.
NYC SASHING: MAN BRUTALLY ATTACKED BY MANIAC HOLDING HATCHET AT BANK ATM
Aaron Garcia, 37, was taken into custody Tuesday evening after an ax attack on Sunday, authorities said. (Yonkers Police)
Police in Yonkers, north New York, said Garcia had four active arrest warrants and one active arrest warrant on charges of criminal contempt, harassment, aggravated harassment and criminal harassment, reported WNBC-TV of New York.
The charges appeared to be domestic in nature and stemmed from several arrests in 2020 and earlier this year, according to the station.
Bank confrontation
On Sunday, the suspect, wearing a black surgical mask, was filmed entering the Chase Bank in Lower Manhattan around 5:30 p.m., holding an ax in his right hand – when suddenly he pounced on the victim, Miguel Solorzano, 50 years old, and cut off his leg from behind.
A struggle ensued as Solorzano attempted to protect himself with a backpack before Garcia appeared to land several blows with an ax, spilling blood. With the victim out of frame in the video, Garcia was then seen smashing ATM screens before dropping the hatchet and walking away.
Police at the scene of an ax attack in New York City. (William Miller / FOX News)
NYC SASHING: MAN BRUTALLY ATTACKED BY MANIAC HOLDING HATCHET AT BANK ATM
“He hit me. In the bank he hit me, ”stunned Solorzano told the New York Daily News on Tuesday, speaking Spanish from his hospital bed.
–
His friend said he needed two surgeries after the bloody attack, according to the newspaper. When asked if he wanted to see video of the incident, Solorzano’s voice trembled.
“Please, please… ‘I don’t want to see it,’ he said.
A relative told the Daily News that Garcia served in Iraq, but was never the same when he returned.
“He was a little off-center. He was in combat. All he was saying was ‘I saw corpses’, ”said the relative.
Curtis Sliwa, the city’s Republican candidate for mayor, on Wednesday accused incumbent Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio of not doing enough to tackle the city’s crime and mental illness.
3 HANDLE ON NYC METRO PLATFORM DURING TT ATTACK IN THE MORNING
“Where are they doing outreach? Who did they bring to a mental institution? Who have they brought in to renew the prescriptions that these men and women desperately need? ” Sliwa said, according to WCBS-TV of New York.
Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams, a former police officer, tweeted that the attack was the result of “multiple failures of a dysfunctional government”.
“Protecting innocent New Yorkers and preventing these incidents – not just responding to them – must be the immediate goal of law enforcement and our mental health services,” Adams wrote.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Garcia, of Yonkers, New York, has been charged with attempted murder and assault following Sunday’s ax attack, according to reports. We didn’t know if he had a lawyer.
–
