[Trigger warning: Filmed at a distance by an onlooker, you can hear the gunshots, screams, and see the women fall to the ground.]
New York city police shot two bystanders Saturday night in busy Times Square while trying to capture a mentally disturbed man. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the 35-year-old man had “simulated shooting the officers,” causing police to chase him through the crowds. Three shots were fired, with one hitting a 54-year-old woman in her leg and the other hitting a 35-year-old woman in her buttocks. “Hundreds of people were just running,” said witness Arken Assam, who takes photographs on 42nd Street. Police finally subdued the man with a taser, and then took him to Bellevue Hospital. Both victims were taken to nearby hospitals, and one has already been released.
According to the New York Daily News, eyewitness Mike Favilla said that "cops opened fire after the man put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a MetroCard and pointed it at the officers like it was gun."
One of the women who was shot had been walking using a walker. Screaming people ran for cover, cars were still driving in the area, and all this took place in the middle of the street.
Bloomberg's Army strikes again.
