NYPD Releases Footage Of The Hammer Suspect Being Shot

Gothamist – Yesterday police fatally shot 30-year-old David Baril—the suspect who allegedly attacked several people around Manhattan with a hammer earlier this week—after he threatened officers in Midtown Manhattan. At a press conference this afternoon, Police Commissioner William Bratton and NYPD Chief of Manhattan Detectives William Aubry described the circumstances leading up to the fatal shooting. They said that uniformed officers Geraldo Casaigne and Lauren O’Rourke were at the corner of 37th Street and 8th Avenue just after 10 a.m. when they observed an individual fitting the description of Baril (cops had already matched his subway pic to the mugshot via facial recognition software). He was wearing a mask and hood this morning, and when the officers approached him, police say he took out his hammer and made a motion to swing at O’Rourke. You can see surveillance video of the incident below.  Casaigne discharged his weapon four times, striking the suspect twice, once in the right arm and once in the torso. Baril was transported in custody to Bellevue Hospital, where he was declared dead. O’Rourke sustained shoulder abrasions and lacerations to the back of her head and back, and was also transported to Bellevue Hospital. Bratton and Aubry said that Baril, who is a Bronx native, has paranoia and schizophrenia, and had been staying at a mental health facility in upper Manhattan before he checked himself out recently. Cops believe he may have been living in the street or subway. Baril has eight prior arrests, including an incident in which he tried to attack a cop on Roosevelt Island. They added that Baril may have put a photo on one of his social media accounts last year showing a bloody hammer. They didn’t specify where, but Vocativ found an Instagram account they believe belongs to Baril that included lots of disturbing, graphic poetry. One such poem from 2014 titled “Blood Stains” reads, “I brought a gun to this fight time to die…”

Well thank God this came to a close. This dude running around whacking girls with a hammer was straight out of a comic book or something. It was like an episode of The Blacklist. Some lunatic posting pictures of bloody hammers attacking girls randomly in the park. Scary shit.

I think the NYPD deserves a shout out on this one. Obviously there’s been some instances over the past year or so where some questionable behavior from certain cops have led to some tragic and controversial circumstances. But when you see some footage like this you realize the kind of harm police officers are constantly facing. Officer O’Rourke took a hammer to the back of the head trying to arrest this guy. Her partner Officer Casaigne did what he needed to do to protect a fellow officer and the rest of the public. When you see a maniac like this you can see why officers are trained to use their weapons in certain instances, and sometimes there’s only time to react and protect. I’m not excusing some of their behavior and cases like the Eric Garner one are obviously very different. I’m just saying when shit goes wrong, the NYPD always catches flack, and so when they successfully take out a hammer wielding maniac who was on the loose trying to kill girls in the park, I think they deserve a thank you as well.