The suspect who shot dead an innocent bystander at Times Square is still at-large and being hunted down by the New York City Police, as the department said on Monday that they intend to deploy more police officers at the Crossroads of the World.
A new video was disclosed by the New York Police Department (NYPD), showing how the armed suspect shot a recent graduate from a military college and a second lieutenant on Sunday evening. The NYPD said he became the second bystander to be shot within weeks.
The gunfire, NYPD furthered, was led by a conflict that arose between the gunman and some people. It was believed that the man was hit by a free bullet.
The report regarding the shooting was received by the authorities at 5:15 p.m.. Particularly, the police were told that a man was shot at the West 45th Street and Seventh Avenue area.
Upon arrival at the location, the police saw a man, 21, who sustained sunshots at the back. He was believed to be hit by a bystander who immediately escaped.
Video footage from the location revealed that the suspect was wearing a patterned coat as he drew his firearm, aimed it at someone, and fled.
The man, who was later identified as 2nd Lt. Samuel Poulin, is in safe condition as he was taken to the hospital. According to The Citadel, he was among the 2021 graduates at the South Carolina military college and was with his family when the shooting happened.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday said the shooting was “absolutely unacceptable”. It is an incident New York “will not tolerate”, he furthered.
“Now we’ve seen patterns in Times Square that we are going to address very, very aggressively. That is the entire notion of precision policing,” the mayor told reporters. “It’s just an unacceptable state of affairs. This is a place that is so precious and so important to our city – it has to be safe.”
