"Stab maniac": the Herald Square incident

American Handgunner, Nov-Dec, 2004 by Massad Ayoob

Situation: He has a knife ... he's stabbing people with it ... and he's closing on you fast.

Lesson: You can't back up faster than he can move forward ... there are times when hesitation means death ... and the pelvic shot is sometimes the best answer.

May, 2004, Manhattan's Herald Square. Filled with pedestrians and broadly assorted merchants, the locale is a staple shopping spot for native New Yorkers, and a "must see" on the lists of many tourists who flood the city.

Unfortunately, as the NYPD discovered long, long ago, any place that is a magnet for people is a magnet for criminals. Coyotes thrive where there is a large population of rabbits, and criminals thrive where there is a large congregation of potential victims.

This is why when New York City's packed subways drew muggers and rapists and pickpockets, the city found it necessary to create a Transit Authority Police Department so huge that it eventually became one of the ten largest police departments in the nation. Several years ago, the Transit Authority Police (along with the Housing Authority Police) were absorbed into the city police department itself, swelling the sworn ranks of the NYPD from an estimated 30,000 to nearly 40,000 officers. The city has budget problems, however, and has not been able to hire new cops as fast as old ones retire. On this day, the strength of the police force in this city of approximately eight million people stands at roughly 36,000 officers.

And, when things explode today in Herald Square, only one of them will get there in time to stop the horror.

The Incident

Jose de Jesus, 29, lives in Newark, NJ. He has a long history of severe mental problems, once attacking a relative so violently he left him near death. In and out of institutions, he is out today ... and out of control.

He has decided that it is time for him to die. He is not going to do it himself. He will force the police to shoot him.

There was a time not so long ago when people like de Jesus were written up in the newspapers as "man slain in unprovoked attack on police." For decades now, we have recognized it as something else: "suicide by cop." One expert from the world of psychology defined it more specifically: "schizophrenic suicide." This, he explained, was not the self-destructive act of someone diagnosed with schizophrenia, but the intentional involvement of others in one's own death. This is the route that Jose de Jesus has chosen. And the others it involves are not just cops.

Jose de Jesus draws the butcher knife he has brought. The sun gleams on its 8" blade as he scans the throng for victims. He picks one out of the milling pedestrians at random, a young man, and without warning plunges the knife into his chest. In a moment, Dimitri Malaeyeva, 21, who picked the wrong day to leave Queens and visit Herald Square, is down, trying to breathe through his punctured lung as the blood pours out of him.

People are screaming, running. The knife flashes again. Jose de Jesus has claimed his second victim.

Many run away. Not all. Brooklyn's George Robbins, a graphic artist, tries to stop de Jesus. But he doesn't have a weapon of his own, and in moments the 34-year-old Samaritan falls back, severely wounded by the 8" blade that now drips the blood of multiple victims.

Forty-nine-year-old security guard Harold Getter tries to disarm de Jesus, but he has no gun and is no match for a maniac with a big, sharp knife. In a moment, this brave man has also been rendered hors de combat.

Everywhere, people are punching 9-1-1 into their cell phones and screaming for the cops as they scramble out of range of the psycho. And then, amidst the din of the terror, comes a clear female voice that rises above the clamor with two sharp, clear syllables. They ring with command and confidence.

"Police!"

The Shooting

The big voice comes from a tiny female. Mary Beth Diaz, 23, is only five months out of the NYPD Academy. The rookie cop has been assigned to Herald Square, working with a squad assigned to focus on shoplifters. She has heard the screams. As the world learned on September 11,2001, New York City cops and firefighters "ride toward the sounds of the guns." She has heard the screams, and she has sprinted directly into the danger.

She identifies herself clearly, in a command voice: "Police!"

Jose de Jesus turns to face her. This is what he has come for. He focuses on the petite officer with a deadly intensity of purpose and begins to move toward her, the bloody knife out ahead of him to strike.

Diaz has drawn her 9rom pistol. "Drop the knife," she yells loud and clear. "Drop the knife! Drop the knife!"

But the madman will not be deterred. He is closing the gap faster. He is only ten feet away from the officer, and with her training still fresh in her mind, she knows there is nothing left to do.

Officer Mary Beth Diaz presses back the trigger of her semiautomatic, and the crack of the shot echoes through the square.

The 124 grain Speer Gold Dot +P bullet enters de Jesus' lower abdomen and smashes into his hip, shattering the bone. He doubles over and falls to the ground. Now, a new scream rises from the New York streets: the attacker's.