NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton called the hatchet attack against two NYPD officers from Long Island a "terrorist act by a reclusive Muslim convert."
Police say 24-year-old Joseph Meeker and 25-year-old Kenneth Healey were among four uniformed officers on foot patrol in Jamaica, Queens Thursday when a freelance photographer asked the officers to take a photograph. As the officers posed, surveillance video shows a man ambushing them with a metal hatchet in his hand. Officer Healey was struck in the head and Officer Meeker was hit in the arm during the attack.
Two officers standing with Healey and Meeker jumped into action, firing multiple times and killing the suspect.
Officer Meeker was treated and released from the hospital. Officer Healey remains in critical but stable condition.
Zale Thompson was a convert to Islam and ranted about government injustices on social media.
Authorities say a 29-year old woman who was in the vicinity of the attack was accidentally struck in her lower back by a police bullet. She is recovering in the hospital.