December 02, 2021 Manhattan, New York – A Florida man was arrested Thursday morning following a three hour armed standoff with police outside of the United Nations building in New York City.
Around 10:40 a. m., responding officers from the 17th precinct located a man armed with a shotgun, pacing up and down the sidewalk near an entrance to the U.N. Headquarters on 42nd Street and First Avenue.
According to police, the armed man wearing a red shirt, was seen holding the shotgun to his head and allegedly threatening to commit suicide. One of the ESU officers held a conversation with the male suspect throughout the entire ordeal, as specialized units from the NYPD aimed sniper rifles at the suspect.
NYPD Officials said the incident does not appear to be terror related. It was determined the male subject was only interested in delivering notebooks to the United Nations.
Police said the armed man parked his pickup truck outside of the Millennium hotel, where he checked in yesterday and walked to the U.N. building from the 44th street hotel.
The Detective bureau also reported the male suspect does not have a criminal history or record.
As a precautionary measure, NYPD Officers with bomb sniffing dogs were also seen sweeping the area for several blocks around the United Nations plaza. Bomb Squad and Bearcat Emergency Service Units were also requested to the scene.
During the standoff, the suspect who was allegedly suffering from a mental health episode was seen kneeling down and going into a bag he was holding to retrieve multiple notebooks. He was then observed bringing papers and notebooks, one by one, to the United Nations entrance.
Following the delivery of several notebooks to the U.N. from the suspect himself, he then sat down, as heavily armed officers moved in to retrieve the notebooks.
According to police, The suspect said he would put the shotgun down, once the U.N. received the notebooks. The notes delivered by the man in red during the standoff contained medical information and other documents, but there was no connection to terrorism or personal notes inside.
After examining the contents of the books, officers in tactical gear then proceeded to deliver the items to the United Nations.
After a three hour standoff with police outside of the United Nations building, the male suspect surrendered to authorities on scene, and was admitted to local hospital for observation.
Charges are still pending and police are looking into the names and notations in the documents to investigate further.
Traffic was blocked by NYPD at northbound FDR Drive and 42nd Street, vehicles along the FDR Drive were affected by the closure.
Video by Oliya Scootercaster (FNTV freedomnews.tv)
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