A security guard at an Upper East Side bank was clinging to life Friday after an outraged customer stabbed him in the neck during a bloody attack, police said.
The customer, who is believed to be in his 20s, ran off and remained at large Friday afternoon.
It was the security guard’s first day at the Chase Bank branch at the corner of E. 86th St. and Second Ave., neighbor Jay Kaplan said as he passed the gory scene.
“I know (the guards) well. I pass with a pup every day,” Kaplan said. “It’s just terrible.”
NYPD officers and detectives investigate a stabbing inside a Chase Bank on the corner of E. 86th St. and Second Ave. Friday, July 15, 2022 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)
The customer was in the bank at 9 a.m. when he began arguing with tellers, cops said.
“It looks like he did have business in the bank, but he began yelling and having problems,” a police source with knowledge of the case said.
Workers asked the irate customer to leave and the 59-year-old guard was called in to escort him from the premises.
When the two got to the vestibule, the suspect began fighting with the guard. During the brawl, he pulled a knife and plunged it into his opponent’s neck, cops said.
“He happened to bring a knife to the bank with him, which is not good,” Andrew Fine, vice president of E. 86th St. Association, a local community group. “I hope the person survives the injuries. It’s just horrific.”
Blood and an abandoned scooter are pictured at the scene of a stabbing inside a Chase Bank on the corner of E. 86th St. and Second Ave. Friday, July 15, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)
Blood spewed from the guard’s wound, staining the ATMs, vestibule floor and glass doors, pics of the ghoulish scene show.
“I saw the guard stand up with all the blood on him and the guy came to the door and run this way,” recalled one witness, who wished not to be named. The woman pointed toward toward the west side. “I didn’t see that far. I was more concerned about the guy bleeding that badly.”
EMS rushed the guard to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was in extremely critical condition, police sources said.
Kaplan, who lives a few doors from the bank branch, said he had planned to go to the Chase ATM that morning.
“But there was something in me that made me not go,” he remembered. A few minutes later, he heard police and ambulance sirens.
“It went on for 15 minutes and sounded very close,” Kaplan said, fearing that he could have been pulling out cash when the assault took place. “My wife is over the crime here. Our lease is due in October and she said once that happens, we’re getting out of here, we’re moving out of the city. It’s terrible.”
Jay Kaplan speaks to the media as NYPD officers and detectives investigate a stabbing inside the Chase Bank on the corner of E. 86th St. and Second Ave. Friday, July 15, 2022 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)
The unhinged customer, described as a Hispanic with long curly black hair sporting a white T-shirt, was last seen running west along E. 86th St. until he ran into a nearby train station.
The NYPD ordered trains in the area shut down for nearly a half hour as they searched for the suspect.
“They basically stopped all trains for 20 to 25 minutes,” said one MTA security employee told the Daily News. “We were asking ‘What was happening?’ But they ain’t saying nothing.”
Blood is seen inside the Chase Bank on the corner of E. 86th St. and Second Ave. Friday, July 15, 2022 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)
The case also caught the attention of NYPD brass and Chief of Department Kenneth Corey was briefly at the garish scene to check on the investigation.
A massive search remained underway Friday.
Neighborhood residents and business owners were stunned by the bloodshed.
“The customers are scared,” said Juan Rosas, a manager at the Gracie’s on 2nd Diner, which is across the street from the Chase location. “I never seen something like that before. Maybe at night, but never in the morning.”
Copyright © 2021, New York Daily News
Copyright © 2021, New York Daily News