NYPD officers flooded the intersection of East 86th Street and Second Avenue Friday morning after a security guard working at the Chase bank on the corner was stabbed during a confrontation with a customer inside the bank, leaving the guard critically injured.
Investigators tell Upper East Site the bloodshed unfolded just after 9:00 am inside the Chase bank located at 244 East 86th Street, after a customer had become belligerent with a teller and was asked by a manager to leave the bank– that’s when the security guard tried to intervene and the suspect stabbed the guard in his neck.
Police say the suspect had already stopped by the bank earlier that morning, but had been refused entry because the bank was not open yet.
Meanwhile, the 59-year-old security guard was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, according to police.
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The security guard’s blood could be seen all over the floor of the ATM vestibule area and on the bottom of the door at the Chase bank’s front entrance.
“My door man told me that it was the security guards first day on the job,” Chase bank customer Jay Kaplan told our news partners at FreedomNews.tv.
“I was coming to actually get cash this morning, and there was something in me that said ‘you know what, you’ll get it later,’” added the UES resident.
A kick scooter stained with blood, believed to belong to the suspect, also remained at the scene inside the bank.
“Our thoughts are with the security guard and his family and we are cooperating with police,” said a spokesperson for Chase bank when reached for comment by Upper East Site.
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At the scene, detectives spoke with one woman who saw the aftermath of the stabbing while she was eating breakfast across the street at Gracie’s Corner Diner— she told them she saw the security guard covered in blood and the attacker fleeing from the scene.
“I saw the blood on his shirt,” the woman said, speaking about the victim, “I hope he is alive.”
A law enforcement source tells Upper East Site that the suspect may be emotionally disturbed— and that may be why the dispute escalated to bloodshed.
Investigators describe the attacker as having medium complexion, long curly hair and was wearing a white t-shirt and was last seen heading westbound on East 86th Street.
If you have any information that can help police in their investigation, you’re asked to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-877-577-8477.
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Scary! I hope the suspect is caught quickly and I hope the victim survives his injuries.