Two women were stabbed to death on Saturday inside New York’s prestigious museum of modern and contemporary art, MoMA, which has been evacuated, multiple sources, including police, said.
The two women, injured “in the back, collarbone and neck”, were immediately hospitalized and “we were told that they would be fine”, indicated on the spot the assistant commissioner for intelligence and anti-terrorism of New York City Police (NYPD), John Miller.
The museum, one of the most visited in New York, located in Midtown Manhattan, was evacuated after the incident, which took place around 4:15 p.m. The police installed a security cordon and the museum was to remain closed on Saturday, noted an AFP photographer on the spot.
The suspect, who had not been arrested late Saturday afternoon, was introduced by police as a regular visitor, whose MoMA membership card had just expired because he had caused two incidents. these last days” in the museum.
On Saturday, when he was refused entry, “he got angry (…) jumped over the reception desk and attacked and stabbed two museum employees, several times”, described John Miller.
Several videos and photos posted on social networks or by the media showed visitors leaving the museum at the time of its evacuation.
The MoMA has masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo.