Officer critical but stable after hatchet attack in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police officer who suffered a serious head wound after being attacked by a hatchet-wielding man remains in critical but stable condition, police said today.

Police say another officer who was hit in the back of the head in the Thursday attack is in stable condition today.

The attacker was shot and killed by police.

Security videotape and witness accounts appeared to leave no doubt that the man purposely targeted four rookie New York Police Department officers, police said. Moments before the attack, he was seen on a street corner crouching down to pull the hatchet out of backpack before he charged the officers and began swinging the hatchet with a two-handed grip, police said.

Asked if the attack could be related to terrorism, Police Commissioner William Bratton didn't rule it out. He cited the fatal shooting of a soldier in Canada earlier this week — what officials there have called a terror attack — as reason for concern.