'Extremist' attacks NY cop with axe
A man reported to have Islamic "extremist leanings" attacked police officers in New York City with a axe yesterday, injuring two before being shot dead, police and a monitoring group said.
The man, identified in the US media as Zale Thompson, had posted an array of statements on YouTube and Facebook that "display a hyper-racial focus in both religious and historical contexts, and ultimately hint at his extremist leanings," the SITE monitoring group said. Four police officers in the city's Queens borough were posing for a photograph at the request of a freelance photographer when the man walked up and without saying a word attacked them, a city hall statement said.
One officer was hit in the arm and another in the head before the officers shot and killed the man, according to police commissioner Bill Bratton.
He said police were investigating the motive for the attack, Bratton said, adding that it was too early to determine whether it was terror-related.
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