Video of man killed with machete at Grand Central station spreads

New York.- The New York Police Department released body camera footage showing the confrontation between officers and a man armed with a machete at the Grand Central subway station in New York. The incident occurred last April 11, after Anthony Griffin, 44, attacked three passengers in the area of platforms 4, 5 and 6. According to reports from US media, detectives Ryan Giuffre and Anthony Manetta went to the scene after receiving an alert from employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a civilian about the presence of an armed man.

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Upon arrival, officers found Griffin wielding a machete of about 43 centimeters and repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapon and get on the ground. In the videos, the agents can be heard trying to persuade him to avoid the use of force, assuring him that no one wanted to harm him and offering him help.

However, Griffin descended towards the platform while holding the machete over his shoulder and, according to the authorities, challenged the police by approaching them while shouting phrases like "I don't want to be here" and "I am Lucifer". Faced with what they considered an imminent threat, Detective Giuffre fired two shots that wounded the man, who later died at Bellevue Hospital. Before the confrontation with the police, Griffin had attacked three people for no apparent reason: an 84-year-old man suffered a deep head wound, another 65-year-old presented cuts and a skull fracture, and a 70-year-old woman was injured in a shoulder. The three victims survived after receiving medical attention.

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Authorities indicated that Griffin had a criminal record related to threats using bladed weapons. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers acted to neutralize a threat that continued to put passengers at risk in one of the city's busiest stations. For his part, the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, thanked the rapid police response and noted that the internal investigation into the use of lethal force is ongoing. The release of the recordings is part of the NYPD's transparency policy in cases where officers use firearms during an operation.