A 27-year-old gentleman armed with an axe — as well as a sword, knife, and can of mace — entered the New York Times building yesterday around noon, asking to have a word with those in the political section.
But of course, the only employees willing to speak to the unwelcome visitor was security, who took away his plastic bag of weapons — and then the police, who sent the young man to a hospital for evaluation after he allegedly cried, "They were going to kill me."
From NBC News:
An NYPD spokesperson familiar with the situation said the man entered the Manhattan building on West 41st Street just after noon. The man didn't appear to threaten anyone but he asked to speak with unidentified individuals at the Times, police said. When security stopped him, he handed over his weapons without incident and he was held until cops arrived.
And from The Hill:
This comes as journalists have increasingly become targets of violence in recent years.
In perhaps the most high-profile recent attack on members of the media in the U.S., five reporters were killed and two more were injured in a 2018 mass shooting at the offices of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md.
Outside of newsrooms, several journalists were also assaulted and had their equipment damaged during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
And more recently, a Las Vegas elected official was charged in September for allegedly stabbing a local investigative journalist to death, after he wrote critical articles about the official.
