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Man Shot During Murray Hill
Stabbing Rampage
October 7, 2007
A homeless man was shot in the stomach by an off-duty transit police
officer after he stabbed two people randomly in Murray Hill
yesterday afternoon. The assailant, identified as 38-year-old Lee
Coleman, was wounded and is in serious condition; he was charged
with attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Coleman's rampage began around 10:30AM. He first walked into a
Starbucks on Second Avenue at 32nd Street and tried to take knives
from behind the counter. The Post reports that the Starbucks'
employees confronted him, so he "he left without incident and walked
north up Second Avenue." Then, he went into a deli where the Daily
News says he got into an argument with someone there, and then
headed to the Texas Smokehouse BBQ, which is between 34th and 35th
Streets. He asked to use the bathroom, but instead grabbed four
knives from a counter.
 Chef Amarjit Singh tried to stop him, but Coleman slashed him on the
head. Singh ran outside and Coleman went to Second Avenue as well,
where he came upon 67-year-old Susan Barron, a psychologist who was
walking her dog. Coleman then knocked her to the ground and started
to stab her. A source told the News that Coleman was slashing her
"'like a piece of meat...He had so many knives that he had to put
some down on the ground' while he stabbed her with others." The Post
wrote, "He hacked away at her arms and face, leaving several slash
wounds that cut to the bone."
Around that time, off-duty transit cop Gregory Chin was leaving the
Gemini Diner. He saw the attack and yelled for Coleman to drop his
weapons. When Coleman didn't, Chin shot him in the stomach. Coleman
was still fighting after being shot, and two police officers as well
as two bridge and tunnel officers, helped Chin restrain Coleman.
Singh is in serious but stable condition. Even though he was
injured, he brought out towels to help Barron. The Daily News'
Michael Daly says we should be proud of Singh: "Onlookers then
watched Singh ignore his own wounds as he sought to stem the woman's
bleeding."
Barron underwent surgery yesterday; her niece said she expected her
aunt to be fine, "Nothing was hit, no vital organs." Barron, a
psychologist who also runs support programs for the parents of blind
children, is a breast cancer survivor who is described as being
"very intelligent, very vivacious." The Times reports that Barron's
dog Velvet was "taken in yesterday by an employee of a North Fork
Bank branch that Ms. Barron uses."
Chin was given and passed a sobriety test, which is part of NYPD
procedure after a police-involved shooting. He is being called a
hero; one witness said, "This guy saved a few lives. He [Coleman]
was wrestling like crazy, and it took four policemen to subdue him
and get the cuffs on."
The courage of Amarjit Singh, 56, has caught the imagination of New
York and the tabloids are hailing him as a hero.
Here's why: At around 10:30 am on Saturday, 38-year-old Lee Coleman,
a homeless man, walked into Texas Smokehouse BBQ at Second Avenue in
Manhattan, where Singh worked. Coleman wanted to use the bathroom.
Singh told the man the shop was closed.
What Singh did not know then was that Coleman had just had a minor
fight at a nearby Starbucks and that he was dangerous.
 Coleman ran into the kitchen and grabbed four large knives. As Singh
tried to stop him, Coleman slashed his ear and stormed out. Singh
ran in the opposite direction, leaving a trail of blood that
stretched an entire city block, according to reports. His sliced ear
was hanging off his face.
When he looked back, he found Coleman attacking an old woman --
later identified as psychologist Susan Barron, 67 -- who was walking
her dog.
'Singh instantly made a decision that proved him one of our city's
very best and bravest. This chef from Queens by way of India became
New York royalty as he forgot his own wounds and dashed straight
back into the mortal danger he had just been so lucky to escape,'
The New York Daily News commented.
'The madman looked up from the bloodied woman and rose on seeing the
courageous Singh approach. A 25-year-old onlooker named Antionette
Brown watched amazed as the madman slowly backed up. He was
clutching at least four knives but seemed unnerved by Singh's
uncommon courage and selflessness, as if Evil were being vanquished
purely by the power of Good. He probably saved her life, Brown later
said.'
Gregory Chin, an off-duty police officer, who was at the nearby
diner soon appeared on the seen and asked Coleman to drop the
knives. But Coleman resisted and Chin fired at him wounding him in
the stomach.
'In the meanwhile, Singh grabbed towels and aprons from the
Smokehouse. Onlookers then watched Singh ignore his own wounds as he
sought to stem the woman's bleeding,' Daily News noted. 'Singh could
have continued fleeing down Second Ave. from the madman who had just
slashed him. Or he could have remained on that bloody spot until
help came. He did not.'
Singh is in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital after a surgery to
reattach his ears.
Singh's nephew Bajinder was proud of his uncle. 'He always tried to
protect someone and do the right thing, he never cared about
himself,' Baljinder told the media. Singh has three grown up
children.
All those involved in the incident were hospitalised and are
recovering.
Coleman, who has prior arrests for assault and other charges in
Georgia and New Jersey, was charged with attempted murder, assault
and criminal possession of a weapon.
Coleman, a former male model, suffered nervous breakdowns in 2005
and again earlier this year.
'He (Singh) now also becomes kin to such other remarkably good guys
as the construction worker who threw himself atop a stranger as a
subway train bore down on them,' Daily News noted.
17
October, 2007
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