2 NYPD cops shot, 1 stabbed in the neck – FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force launches investigation

Two NYPD cops were shot, and another New York City police officer was stabbed in the neck on Wednesday night. An unidentified man ambushed police officers from the 70th Precinct while they were on an anti-looting patrol in Brooklyn around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, nearly four hours after the city's 8 p.m. curfew.

"That officer was stabbed in the left side of his neck, thank God, missing an artery," said New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea in a news conference early Thursday morning. "He's recovering here in stable condition in the hospital."

"About the same time, a block or two away, what we know at this point in time is that we had a uniformed sergeant and police officer hearing shots fired coming from that initial scene," Shea said. "We believe that when they got there, they saw the perpetrator with a gun in his hand that we believe belonged to one of the officers."

"What we know at this point in time, 22 shell casings have been recovered from a number of members of the service," Shea added. "We know that we had a chaotic scene where a knife was recovered as well.

"We had the perpetrator struck multiple times, he is in critical condition," Shea said at the news conference. "We had two police officers shot in the hand, and we had the third police officer stabbed in the neck. All police officers at this point in time, thank God, are in stable condition and expected to recover.

"It appears to be a complete cowardly, despicable, unprovoked attack on a defenseless police officer," Shea said. "I think we are all fed up with, what we're saying is this violence has to stop."

Mayor Bill de Blasio went to Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn to visit the police officers.

"I was at @KingsCountyHosp with our officers wounded in Brooklyn last night," de Blasio tweeted. "We're thankful this story will end with our officers going home to their families. This is a painful time. No question. We have to find a way to come together and move forward."

At a news conference, de Blasio said, "We're gathered on a very tough night. It's another example of what it means every day to protect all of us no matter what is happening, the bravery they show constantly."

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch blamed anti-police rhetoric for the attacks.

"Are we surprised? Are we surprised we're here in the hospital again? Did we doubt because of the rhetoric we're hearing, the anti-police rhetoric that's storming our streets, are we surprised that we got this call? I'm not. We said it's going to happen," Lynch said.

The suspect is said to be a 20-year-old white man with no prior criminal history, according to the New York Post.

Unverified video alleging to be of the incident was shared on Twitter. Multiple gunshots and police sirens can be heard.

NYPD shared a photo of the knife used in the unprovoked attack.

Police also took photos of graffiti in the area that read: "ACAB," an acronym that stands for "All Cops Are Bastards." Police believe the anti-police graffiti may be related to a George Floyd protest that took place over the weekend.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force launched an investigation into the attack. Early Thursday morning, federal agents searched the Flatbush apartment of the suspect accused of stabbing the police officer in the neck.