Photo via Flickr user Sam valadi
UPDATE: According to police, Baril started swinging his hammer at a female officer, which caused her partner to fire four shots, two of which hit. The NYPD also released a surveillance video, which shows Baril chasing after one cop and another one shooting him from behind.On Wednesday morning, New York City police shot a man who was allegedly attacking people with a hammer and his fist at random.According to the New York Post, which had one of the earliest stories about the incident, a 30-year-old named David Baril was stopped on the street by the cops because he resembled photos of a hammer-wielding man who had been assaulting strangers on the streets of Manhattan for the past two days. Baril apparently lunged at one of the officers, Lauren O'Rouke, swinging repeatedly with his hammer and injuring her head, the Wall Street Journal reported.Remarkably, despite being shot in the head, the suspect is in critical but stable condition, an NYPD spokesperson told VICE.Baril's ostensible reign of terror started on Monday at about 1:45 PM, when he reportedly hit a 20-year-old man in the back of the head. Later, at about 7:40 PM, he is said to have attacked a woman sitting on a bench in Union Square Park. Ten minutes later, he assaulted a 33-year-old woman, according to the Post. (It's unclear whether or not he also punched a woman on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue earlier that evening.) The Post is reporting that Baril has a violent past, having been arrested for both assaulting a cop and jumping over the counter at a KFC to punch someone who worked there.Baril was shot around 10 AM on Eighth Avenue near 37th Street. One local reporter tweeted a picture showing a hammer lying on the pavement. The area is closed off, and there's a heavy police presence.The NYPD spokesperson told VICE there will be a news conference about Baril this afternoon. We'll update this post with more information as soon as we have it.Follow Allie Conti on Twitter.
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