D.C. Axe Attack (The Latest)

UPDATE TO THIS EARLIER POST HERE AT IBA...

From WTOP:

...[D.C. Police Chief] Lanier stressed that police had no evidence linking the attack to any broader plot or to last week's attack of a group of New York City police officers by a hatchet-wielding man, which New York's police commissioner called an act of terrorism.

Lanier said police weren't ruling out that possibility....

"A lot of these radical organizations, terrorist organizations are very vocal about targeting first responders. It's no secret. It's not new. But it certainly has ramped up," Lanier said. "We're on extremely high alert."

The axe wielder is still on the loose and remains unidentified.

BTW, there is a Salafist masjid five short blocks from the location of the axe attack on October 31, 2014. Just sayin'.

Man With Axe Attacks DC Police Officer (Updated)

From WTOP:

WASHINGTON -- D.C. Police are at a heightened state of alert after a man with an ax attacked an officer early Friday. 

The incident happened around 3 a.m. in the 3800 block of 13th Street in Northeast, several blocks east of the Catholic University campus. 

An officer in full uniform was in a police cruiser when he was ambushed, according to Officer Araz Alali, a D.C. police spokesman. 

The suspect swung an ax and shattered the cruiser's window. 

The officer got out of the vehicle and tried to apprehend the suspect. Alali said he was injured in the struggle, not by the ax, and was unable to stop the attacker. 

The officer was taken to the hospial, and was expected to be OK. 

"He's a little shaken up. But he's OK," the officer's former partner tells WTOP. Police are now looking for the suspect, who fled on foot westbound through the south alley of the 1200 block of Quincy Street NE toward 12th Street NE. 

A description of the suspect has not been released. The ax used in the ambush was recovered, and it is being processed. 

Alali said there does not appear to be a connection to last week's hatchet attack on a group of New York City officers, but said the department will cover all bases in the investigation.

No, there couldn't be any connection to any previous axe attacks against Police Officer on the Eastern Seaboard.

Why would there be?



AOW here...

About the suspect:

Specific to this attack, the Fifth District officer was on patrol when he noted a suspicious person and went to investigate the situation. The suspicious person avoided the officer by entering an alley. The officer then entered the alley in his marked car and was ambushed by the person with the axe. The axe shattered the window, but did not strike the officer. The officer gave chase and caught up with the suspect, but after a brief struggle, he was able to escape.

As of now we have a general lookout for a black male, 6′-1″ to 6′-2″ with a stocky build. We have several leads that we are following up on at this point, but the investigation continues.”