Crime & Safety

See It: Man Attacks Cop In 'Planned Assassination,' NYPD Says

Dzenan Camovic, 20, faces an attempted murder of a police officer charge over accusations he stabbed a NYPD officer in the neck.

Dzenan Camovic, 20, is accused of using this knife to attack a NYPD officer last week.
Dzenan Camovic, 20, is accused of using this knife to attack a NYPD officer last week. (Courtesy of New York Police Department)

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A sudden knife attack on a NYPD officer in Brooklyn was a "planned assassination," authorities said.

Video released by the NYPD shows a man walk up to an officer posted at Church and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn last week. The officer didn't even have to turn around before the man apparently plunges a knife into his neck, the video shows.

"This was not a chance encounter—it was a planned assassination attempt on an NYPD police officer," NYPD tweeted. "It's only by sheer luck that this didn't have a drastically different outcome."

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The officer — Yayonfrant Jean Pierre, according to reports — is seen on police body cam in the video clutching his neck. He was last listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital, authorities said.

The accused attacker — Dzenan Camovic, 20 — remains hospitalized after not the stabbing, but a violent chain of events at the street corner. Camovic somehow grabbed an officer's gun and got into a gunfight with cops, who fired at least 22 bullets at him, authorities said.

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Camovic faces multiple charges: attempted murder of a police officer, robbery, assault of a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment.

And authorities continue to probe suspected terrorism links or motivations in the attack, the New York Daily News reported. Camovic cried "Allahu Akbar" three times during the knife attack, the Daily News reported.

The attack occurred amid citywide protests over the killing of George Floyd and police brutality. The officers were posted at the intersection to stop potential looting, authorities said.


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