Man shot dead after striking cop in the head with ax

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/10/23/man-shot-dead-after-striking-cop-in-the-head-

Man shot dead after striking cop in the head with ax
By Larry Celona, Reuven Fenton, Kirstan Conley and Laura Italiano
October 23, 2014 | 3:31pm

The scene of Thursday afternoon's violence on Jamaica Avenue in Queens.
Photo: Rudy Escamilla


A hatchet-swinging psycho with Islamic militant leanings turned a busy Queens street corner into a scene of bloody chaos Thursday, chopping a rookie cop in the back of the head and slicing a second officer on the arm before two other officers shot him dead.

In opening fire on the madman, cops accidentally wounded a bystander, *authorities said.

Officer Kenneth Healey, 25, had just four months on the job when Zale Thompson, 32, of Queens — a “scholarly” but “weird” *recent convert to Islam — fractured the back of the cop’s skull with one swing of a blue-handled hatchet at about 2 p.m. in Jamaica.

A 29-year-old woman walking a half-block away was struck in the back by a stray police bullet and was in stable condition, according to police sources.

The NYPD is investigating whether Islamic extremism played a role in the attack, which left the rookie in serious but stable condition Thursday night.

“Helicopters, big military will be useless on their own soil,” Thompson raged in a private Facebook post, Fox News reported.

“They will not be able to defeat our people if we use guerilla warfare. Attack their weak flanks,” he added.

“There’s nothing we know at this time that would indicate that [Islamic terrorism] is the case,” Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a press conference at Jamaica Hospital.

“That’s what the investigation will attempt to determine,” Bratton said as Healey, the son of a 34-year Nassau County police detective, underwent surgery.

Zale Thompson runs at an NYPD officer with his ax during the attack.


The second injured cop, Officer Joseph Meeker, also a four-month rookie, was “conscious and alert” at Jamaica Hospital, police said.

Video shows Thompson pulling the hatchet from a bag, then taking a running leap at Healey and his three companions as they stood *together on the rainy sidewalk.

Holding the hatchet in two hands like a baseball bat, he swung three times, one source who saw the video told The Post.

The first swing broke the one cop’s arm. The second was a miss. The third struck Healey in the back of the head.

“The cops yelled, ‘Drop it!’ ” *recalled eyewitness Larry *Bethune, 44, who watched the *violence unspool at Jamaica Avenue and 160th Street.

“He raised his arm up high and brought it straight down on the cop’s head,” the Hollis resident added.

“The cop went down to the ground face-first . . . The cop’s just lying there with blood pouring down his face. He didn’t move.”

Another witness, Kelli Reddica, 24, recalled hearing seven police bullets ring out as Thompson was taken down — and seeing the young cop’s horrible head injury.

The ax used by the suspect to attack the NYPD officers


“He looked like he couldn’t move, and blood was gushing out of his head,” Reddica said of Healey. “Blood just drenched the side of his face,” she said.

Thompson is being investigated for broader terrorist connections, a law enforcement source said, adding, “There are suspected terror ties.”

Thompson’s Facebook page includes a passage from the Quran in Arabic script beseeching Allah’s guidance in finding “the straight path” and a black-and-white photograph of a black-scarved militant.

Thompson was a “very educated” proponent of “black power” and a graduate of the College of New Rochelle in Harlem, said a classmate who asked not to be identified by name.

“He always spoke positively,” said the classmate, who was unaware of any Islamic leanings.

But former neighbors at Thompson’s address in East New York, Brooklyn, said that in recent months he had become “weird” and argumentative, fighting with his girlfriend and mother *before moving to Jamaica this year.

 

[voiceofreason]

http://heavy.com/news/2014/10/zale-thompson-queens-ax-attacker-terrorist-facebook-kenneth-healey/

Zale Thompson: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Published 11:00 pm EDT, October 23, 2014 Updated 10:46 am EDT, October 24, 2014

Zale Thompson has been named as the ax-wielding maniac who tried to kill four NYPD officers in Queens on October 23. You can watch the insane video of the attack above. Thompson managed to injure two of the cops before being shot dead by the other two.

Here’s what we know so far:

1. Thompson Wielded an 18-Inch Ax

Thompson was shot dead on a Queens street after he attacked a group of cops with an 18-inch ax. Officer Kenneth Healey received a wound to the head in the incident. Another cop, Joseph Meeker, was injured. Both are rookies in the NYPD. Thompson attacked them without saying a word, according to witnesses.

2. He Was Discharged From the Navy & Was a ‘Proponent of Black Power’

CNN reports that Thompson was discharged from the Navy and that he had a criminal record in California. His Navy discharge was related to misconduct.

According to his Facebook page, Thompson is a native of Queens who graduated in 2011 from the Teachers College at Columbia University. His page also says he attended the The College of New Rochelle and High School of Graphic Communications Arts. His last-known address was in East New York, Brooklyn, but the New York Post reports that he had moved to Jamaica, Queens, this year. Neighbors there called him “weird” and said he constantly fought with his girlfriend and mother while he lived in Brooklyn.

He is 32 years old. On his LinkedIn page, Thompson lists his skills as Microsoft Office, public speaking and research. A source told the New York Post that Thompson was “very educated” and was a proponent of “black power.”

On his Facebook page, he also went by the name Zaim Farouq Abdul-malik.

3. Zale Wrote Online About Jihad & Guerilla Warfare & Wanted to ‘Rise Up’ Against the Government

In the comments section under this video, Zale Thompson wrote:

If you’re looking for “perfect” muslims who never make any mistakes in
their Jihad, then you will be looking in vain! If the Zionists and the
Crusaders had never invaded and colonized the Islamic lands after WW1, then
there would be no need for Jihad! Which is better, to sit around and do
nothing, or to Jihad fisabeelallah!

In the comments section under a YouTube posting of the song “No White God” by Sizzla, Thompson writes:

It’s ok for white people to draw pictures of a white jesus, and then colonize Africa, and enslave the negro in America, wipe out the native American, and invade the middle east. They call black people racist for rejecting the oppression they suffered from whites. Listen, when black people have colonized the entire continent of Europe, enslaved its people, and sold them into bondage to foreign lands, then you can call them racist.

One of Thompson’s friends, Frank Sha Francois, told The Daily News:

He never expressed, to me, that I could recall, that he would do anything violent. Yes he said there were things that needed to be done, non-violent, collective action. We spoke against all aspects of any type of terrorism — foreign terrorism, domestic terrorism, terrorism committed by groups and by governments; any act of violence where innocent lives were spilled. We spoke against that.

However, in one Facebook post, Thompson wrote:

Helicopters, big military will be useless on their own soil. They will not be able to defeat our people if we use guerrilla warfare. Attack their weak flanks.

ABC New York reports that Thompson has “a long history of filled with what sources describe as hate speech aimed at what he apparently saw as the white government power structure in America, suggesting it was time to rise up in opposition.”


4. This Attack Comes Amid a Wave of ‘Lone Wolf’ Incidents

5. NYPD Officer Kenneth Healey Remains in Critical Condition

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/new-black-panther-group-hails-ax-attacker/

Black Panther hails ax attack on cops
By Priscilla DeGregory, Kevin Sheehan and Kirstan Conley
October 27, 2014 | 5:11am

Queens chapter leader of the New Black Panther Party, Frank Sha Francois says that Zale Thomspon was “a crusader seeking justice."
Photo: Brigitte Stelzer ; YouTube


The Muslim extremist who attacked rookie cops with a hatchet last week was “a crusader seeking justice’’ — and more assaults will likely follow, the head of his local New Black Panther Party warned.

“It probably won’t be the last [attack on police] because you have a lot of frustrated people out here,” Queens chapter leader Frank Sha Francois told The Post.

Francois said ax-wielding Zale Thompson wasn’t officially a member of his group, but he came to meetings and they talked about “police brutality” cases such as Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

“I don’t condone violence, but something needs to be done,” Francois said. “We need to have some type of deterrent and real oversight to deter the police from violating the laws and to know they are not above the laws.”

While he hailed the ax man as a “crusader,” Francois insisted he didn’t agree with Thompson’s methods.

“I tell people that to go up against law enforcement in this country is suicide,” he said. “Our main way to deal with it is to rally and boycotting.”

Thompson, 32, was a jihadist sympathizer who hated cops and white people, his family and friends have said. He was shot dead on a Jamaica, Queens, sidewalk Thursday after he lunged with a blue-handled hatchet at four rookie cops, striking Officer Joseph Meeker, 24, in the arm and Officer Kenneth Healey, 25, in the back of the head.

Francois’s comments about Thompson came amid anxiety among cops over the attack. Officers fatally shot a Queens man Sunday morning after he threatened staff at New York Hospital Queens with a utility knife, police said.

Joseph Priolo, 29, had gone to the hospital hours earlier, at around 2:30 a.m., complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. He was treated and released — but returned a short time later, pulling out the knife and demanding syringes. A staffer called 911.

When cops confronted Priolo later near the Kissena Boulevard apartment building where he lived, he lunged with the knife and was shot twice, police said.

“He brandished the utility knife and one of the two officers fired twice,” said Chief of Patrol James O’Neill.

Priolo was rushed back to the hospital where he had menaced the workers and was pronounced dead.

Meanwhile, police officers and community members held a short prayer service outside Jamaica Hospital for Meeker and Healey.

“[Healey’s] still in critical but stable condition, but his recovery’s been dramatic,” Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann said.

“He’s speaking. He’s doing limited physical therapy. He’s doing great.”

Meeker has already been released.

 

[Whitebear]

Officer Kenneth Healey

Officer Joseph Meeker

Thompson, 32, was a jihadist sympathizer who hated cops and white people, his family and friends have said. He was shot dead on a Jamaica, Queens, sidewalk Thursday after he lunged with a blue-handled hatchet at four rookie cops, striking Officer Joseph Meeker, 24, in the arm and Officer Kenneth Healey, 25, in the back of the head.

• NYPD cops recovering from injuries by hatchet-wielding man
• Kenneth Healey, NYPD cop injured in hatchet attack, remains in critical condition

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/11/01/nypd-investigating-dc-cop-ax-attack-similar-to-nyc-one/

NYPD investigating DC cop ax attack similar to NYC one
By Tara Palmeri
November 1, 2014 | 4:09am

Zale Thompson runs at an NYPD officer with his ax during the attack.


A DC cop was attacked by an ax-wielding maniac early Friday morning — and now the NYPD is investigating a possible connection between that incident and one involving a Muslim convert who swung at four New York City officers with a hatchet last week, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.

This latest attack — which did not injure the officer — was “very similar to the one we experienced last week — unprovoked, unanticipated,” Bratton explained.

John Miller, the NYPD’s chief of intelligence and counter-terrorism, said they’re discussing the freaky incident with DC police as they try to determine a motive.

“It’s very hard to gauge what the purpose was,” Miller said.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2015/05/05/im-extremely-lucky-nypd-rookie-who-survived-hatchet-attack/

‘I’m extremely lucky': NYPD rookie who survived hatchet attack
By Antonio Antenucci
May 5, 2015 | 3:12pm

The rookie cop who was struck in the head by a hatchet-swinging psycho on a Queens street last year thought he was paralyzed and initially lost half his vision, but still counts himself as “lucky.”

After Officer Kenneth Healey had his skull fractured by a crazed Zale Thompson in Jamaica last October, he felt numb on his left side and lost 40 percent of the vision in his left eye, Healey tells WNBC-TV in an interview.

Zale Thompson
Photo: NYPD


“I had a lot of numbness on the left side of the body, I thought I was partially paralyzed,” Healey says in the 30-second clip. “I had actually lost something like 40 percent of my vision … and that’s back 100 percent. I’m extremely lucky about that.”

Along with his sight returning, Healey states that he is still recovering well from his injuries.

“It’s all coming back,” Healey says.

Thompson, who obsessively scoured the web for terrorist information, was shot dead after charging Healey and fellow Officer Joseph Meeker while swinging his hatchet three times.

Meeker suffered a broken arm after getting hit with the hatchet.

The interview airs in its entirely at 11 p.m.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/06/14/cop-who-survived-hatchet-attack-gets-nypds-medal-of-honor/

Cop who survived hatchet attack gets NYPD’s Medal of Honor
By Daniel Prendergast
June 14, 2016 | 5:48pm

Officer Kenneth Healey received the NYPD's highest award, the Medal of Honor. Photo: Gregory P. Mango


A cop who nearly died when a lone-wolf terrorist split his skull open with a hatchet was awarded the NYPD’s highest honor Tuesday.

Officer Kenneth Healey was presented with the Medal of Honor at the annual Medal Day ceremony outside police headquarters.

Three cops credited with shooting the madman dead and saving Healey’s life by rushing the gravely wounded cop to the hospital in the back of a squad car were also recognized for their bravery.

Healey and his fellow officers — Taylor Kraft, Peter Rivera and Joseph Meeker — were on duty in Jamaica, Queens, in October 2014 when someone asked if they would pose for a picture.

Seconds later, Zale Thompson came running up and chopped at Meeker’s arm before burring the small ax deep in Healey’s skull.

Rivera and Kraft shot Thompson dead.

The cops radioed for an ambulance but ultimately decided to put the critically wounded cop in the back of their police car and drove him to Jamaica Hospital.

Investigators later determined that Thompson was a self-radicalized Muslim and the attack was terror-related.

Healey underwent a long and intensive recovery before returning to duty in the department’s Technical Assistance and Response Unit in November.

“By his incredible will, Police Officer Healey survived,” Mayor de Blasio said at the ceremony before presenting he and the other cops with their awards.

“This morning we salute his bravery with the NYPD’s highest award, the Medal of Honor.”

After the ceremony, the three cops who saved his life recalled that day when they thought their friend would surely die.

“It just happened so fast,” Meeker recalled after the ceremony. “One second you’re just standing there, a photographer asked us for a photo, and mayhem just happened in a split second.”

“It feels good [to be honored], but I’m sure many of us would like to go back because it would have been good if none of this ever happened.”

Rivera agreed saying: “It’s an honor to get the medal, but I would trade it in a heartbeat to have Healey back to 100 percent.”

A total of 54 cops were honored at the ceremony, including slain Detectives Brian Moore and Randolph Holder, who were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Moore was killed in May 2015 as he and his partner attempted to question a man in Queens who pulled out a gun and shot him in the face.

Holder died last October while chasing down a gunman who shot him in the head in Harlem.