New York Man Attacks Teen Girls With Butcher's Knife, Captured Minutes Later

A 49-year-old man stabbed four young girls in their house with a blood-covered meat cleaver before he was shot at by New York City police officers, authorities said. The suspect, Lun Chang Chen, sustained gunshot wounds and is in critical condition, according to reports.

Chen attacked the children when their mother was away, NYPD Chief of Department John Chell told ABC News. The suspect's family told police that he lived at the house where the attack occurred and had a history of mental illness, Mr Chell said.

The four young girls, between the ages 16, 13, 11, and 8, were taken to Maimonides Medical Centre after sustaining "serious slash and stab wounds" but they are stable, authorities said.

One of the victims, an 11-year-old girl, hid herself in a room and called 911, informing the dispatcher that she and her siblings had been stabbed by her uncle.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the 911 call centre employed GPS technology to determine the call's origin even though the girl didn't know her address.

This prompted officers to hurry to a residence on 84th Street at approximately 10:15 am, The New York Post reported.

Officer Tisch told reporters during a scene briefing that officers "heard screams coming from behind the door to their left." They immediately forced "their way into the apartment, kicking down the door," she said.

She claimed that officers encountered "a man standing near the entrance holding a large meat cleaver covered with blood" when they entered the house.

Chen refused to drop the cleaver when officers told him to, and instead "advanced towards them." Two officers "discharged their firearms," ending the "horrific" bloody attack, Ms Tisch said.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the vicious attack.

Unsettling photos from the incident show the suspect being brought out on a stretcher, and at least one of the girls outside the building drenched in blood from head to toe.

Ms Tisch told reporters that a fifth youngster, a boy, was in the residence earlier and fled for assistance when the suspect attacked.

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