NYPD Officer Shoots ‘Knife-Wielding’ Man in Whole Foods

On Saturday afternoon, a police officer shot a man with a knife inside a Whole Foods store in Harlem.

Whole Foods
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Whole Foods

Shots were fired inside a Whole Foods store in Harlem this past weekend.

According to TIME, a New York Citypolice officer shot and wounded a "knife-wielding" man in the shoulder on Saturday night at about 8:30 p.m. The 28-year-old victim reportedly advanced toward the officers as they called 911. He was transported to Harlem Hospital and has since been in stable condition.

Officers say the victim had previous interactions with local law enforcement. Officers explained that he was on parole from a history of petit larceny, according to ABC 7.

Here is a photo of the knife recovered at the scene pic.twitter.com/z6vmXyPyJl

Although no one else was injured, the Associated Press reports the officer who shot the gun was treated for tinnitus, a common ear-ringing problem that affects 1 in 5 people on average.

Witnesses, including employees, recall many people started running away from the incident before it was shut down for a crime scene.

The storefront the shooting occurred at was located on 125th Street and Lenox Avenue. According to Gothamist, the store opened recently in July 2017, after the company initially announced the store five years ago. The store opening followed Amazon's announcement to buy the grocery chain for $13.7 billion in June 2017.

A similar incident occurred in September 2015, when a security officer beat a black person attempting to use EBT at a Whole Foods in Oakland, California. As more storefronts open in areas with a strong police presence, future events are unforeseeable, yet unsurprising.

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