NEW YORK — The New York Police Department has made public body camera footage showing the fatal shooting of an armed man who attacked three people with a machete at the Grand Central subway station last month.
The footage, uploaded to the police department’s YouTube channel on Friday, captures the confrontation with 44-year-old Anthony Griffin following his random assault on three individuals at the 42nd Street-Grand Central station, which links to Grand Central Terminal.
Detectives Ryan Giuffre and Anthony Manetta, both in uniform, encountered Griffin around 9:40 a.m. on April 11 as he climbed a staircase carrying a large blade.
The officers repeatedly commanded Griffin to drop his weapon, with Giuffre drawing his firearm as Griffin kept the knife raised near his head.
Griffin initially backed down the stairs but then advanced toward the officers while still brandishing the weapon overhead as they followed.
“Nobody wants to hurt you,” Giuffre can be heard saying in the recording. “We can talk about it. Get down. Get down. Dude, I’m not going to ask you again. Please. Please. Please. Get down!”
Griffin continued yelling and moving unpredictably toward the officers while holding the large blade above his head.
“I don’t want to be here. Shoot me,” Griffin stated during the encounter. At another moment, he declared, “I am Lucifer.”
Giuffre subsequently discharged two rounds, causing Griffin to collapse immediately. Medical personnel transported him to a hospital where he was declared deceased.
At the time of the incident, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported that officers instructed Griffin to surrender his weapon no fewer than 20 times, but he failed to cooperate.
“Our officers were confronted with an armed individual who had already injured multiple people and was continuing to pose a threat,” she said. “They gave clear commands. They attempted to de-escalate. And when that threat did not stop, they took decisive action to stop it and to protect New Yorkers on one of the busiest train platforms in the city.”
The three stabbing victims — men aged 84 and 65, plus a 70-year-old woman — suffered injuries including “significant lacerations to the head and face” and a skull fracture, according to Tisch. However, their wounds were not deemed life-threatening.
