NYPD Shoots Alleged Hammer Attacker In Midtown Manhattan: Reports

UPDATE, 11:45 a.m.: A spokesman for NYPD's office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information told IBTimes the suspect was in critical but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital.

Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a news conference Wednesday that a male officer fired four shots at the man when he tried to assault a female officer with a hammer, NBC New York reported. The suspect was hit two times.

Original article: New York Police Department officers shot a man Wednesday morning in Midtown Manhattan, leaving the suspect in critical condition, according to multiple reports. Twitter users posted photos and messages from the scene at Eighth Avenue and 37th Street calling the victim "the hammer guy," a man who earlier this week attacked people near Union Square with a hammer. Local affiliate ABC 7 reported that no NYPD officers were significantly injured in the incident.

Alison Jimenez, a public relations professional who works in the area, had just come up off the subway when she heard gunshots, she told International Business Times. "My first instinct was to duck behind a van because I thought, 'OK, if there are gunshots up the street, I'm not going any further,'" she said.

Jimenez said she saw New York Police officers running up the street on foot to help out. They soon roped off the area around the suspect's body. Jimenez said she was impressed with the officers' quick response time. "They must have been following this guy," she said, "and just waiting for the second to get him."

A police spokesman declined to comment to USA Today because of the ongoing investigation.