A man who recently had his membership to the Museum of Modern Art revoked stabbed two employees at the New York City Saturday afternoon after he was denied entry, police said.
The stabbings occurred at approximately 4:15 p.m., said John Miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism at the New York Police Department. The victims, who were both women, were transported to Bellevue Hospital and were expected to survive, according to the NYPD.
Police are still trying to locate the suspect.
Miller said the man, who he declined to identify but said is known to police, had his membership revoked because of two separate incidents involving disorderly conduct at the MoMA on two different dates in recent days.
“He became upset about not being allowed entrance and then jumped over the reception desk and proceeded to attack and stab two of the employees of the museum multiple times,” Miller said during a press conference Saturday evening.
He said the two employees, who police said were both women, were stabbed in the back, collarbone, and in the back of the neck. “We are told that they’re both going to be OK,” Miller said.
He added that police are doing everything they can to locate the suspect, who was captured on video leaving the museum. The suspect was described as a white man wearing a black jacket, a blue surgical mask, and a colorful patterned shirt.
Miller said they were looking for the individual in connection with two other prior incidents in midtown Manhattan but said police believe he does not have “an extensive record” or previous arrests. He did not provide additional information about those two incidents.
The MoMa did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.
Christian Desrosiers, who is a member of the museum, told BuzzFeed News he was getting his ticket scanned by the escalator when he saw three women who were about 15 feet in front of him spin around and sprint out of the building.
“I figured that I would follow them,” he said. “You can just tell when somebody’s running for their life. There’s a way you run when you’re fleeing something. … It happened very quickly.”
Desrosiers, 34, said it was “weirdly quiet” and that people weren’t screaming as they fled.
“People were like rushing out but it wasn’t like pandemonium,” he said. “It was very unclear what was happening.”
A Brooklyn resident named Alex told BuzzFeed News he and his wife were sitting on the first floor by the museum store when they heard people screaming.
Alex, who did not want his last name published, said at first they thought it was a group of kids “being loud,” but then they saw people rushing for the exit.
“Everybody around panicked and rushed out, pushing everyone and everything in front of them,” Alex said in an email. “Both my wife and I didn’t see a hand sanitizer dispenser that had been pushed to the floor and we tripped and fell.”
Luckily, no one stepped over them and they were able to get up and out of the building.
“I assumed the worst and kept running to get as far as possible quickly,” Alex said.
Videos posted to social media showed other museum-goers calmly evacuating the building, seemingly unaware of what was going on.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/skbaer/new-york-moma-stabbing