Chaos erupted in Times Square on New Year's Eve when a machete-wielding man injured three New York Police Department (NYPD) officers.
New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters early Sunday that a 19-year-old man attempted to strike the first officer in the head with a machete, unprovoked. Sewell said the man hit two other officers on the head with the machete.
Sewell said one officer received a laceration to the head while the other received a skull fracture and a large laceration. Another officer discharged his firearm, striking the suspect in the shoulder.
The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. ET at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue. One police source told NYPost that an investigation had been opened to see whether the suspect is a radical Islamic extremist.
"We are working with our federal partners for this investigation, and it is ongoing," Commissioner Sewell said.
NYPD Crime Stoppers released a picture of the machete.
Mike Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the New York FBI Field Office, who is also investigating, told local news NBC New York that the knife attack appears to be the work of a "sole individual at this time, there's nothing to suggest otherwise." The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is also investigating.
Nearby onlookers were startled by the attack and gunfire -- many revelers fled amid the chaos.
"No backpacks or umbrellas in Times Square. They forgot to mention machetes," a police source told The Post.
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