Pictured - Man 37, arrested for frenzied ATM hatchet attack had FIVE warrants out on him: Iraq vet who 'was never the same' after war is taken for psychiatric evaluation
A suspect with a string of outstanding warrants has been arrested over a vicious hatchet attack on a man at a bank in lower Manhattan.
Aaron Garcia, 37, of Yonkers, was charged with attempted murder and assault for the Sunday evening attack, which left Queens resident Miguel Solorzano, 50, bloodied and hospitalized with slashes to his face and leg.
Authorities revealed Wednesday that Garcia is already wanted by Yonkers Police, who have an active arrest warrant out on him for a February 15 assault, and four active bench warrants for failure to appear in court.
He had three prior arrests in 2020 stemming from charges of harassment, aggravated harassment, stalking and criminal contempt, Yonkers police said.
A close relative, who asked not to be named, said Garcia had previously served in the Army, and was not the same after his return from deployment to Iraq, the New York Daily News reported.
'He was a little off-center. He was in combat. All he would say is "I saw dead bodies,"' the relative told the outlet.
Police officials said Garcia was arrested after being held at Bellevue Hospital to undergo psychiatric evaluation Wednesday.
The horror attack at 5.20pm Sunday was caught on security camera at the Chase Bank on Broadway in Manhattan's financial district.
The footage shows Solorzano standing at an ATM when a man - identified by police as Garcia - removes a hatchet from a dark bag and walks up behind him.
Garcia then repeatedly hits Solorzano with the hatchet as the victim desperately tries to defend himself.
Once the assailant is finished attacking Solorzano, he proceeds to smash the ATM screens before walking away, but not before leaving the hatchet and his backpack behind, police said.
Solorzano, who lives in Corona, suffered three slash wounds to the head and another to his right leg, New York City police officials reported.
He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he remains after undergoing two surgeries.
Garcia was arrested at around 9.20pm Tuesday in Chelsea, where he was reportedly found breaking car and storefront windows with a hammer.
Video captured the shocking moment Queens man Miguel Solorazano, 50, is slashed with a hatchet while using an ATM at a Chase Bank in downtown Manhattan at 5.30pm Sunday. It begins with the attacker walking into the ATM room with the hatchet in hand
The attacker then suddenly walks up behind Solorzano and begins swinging his weapon in the violent attack
The unknown assailant starts with slashes to the back of the surprised victim's knees
The Solorzano quickly turns to face his attacker, and tries to fend him off using his backpack
Police said Garcia went on his Chelsea rampage at around 8pm, and began by smashing car windows.
As he walked past Elmo's restaurant on 7th Avenue near 20th Street, he allegedly ran into a 54-year-old man, and raised the hammer as if to hit him, but ran off, the New York Daily News reported.
Chelsea cops said Garcia then smashed a window at Rebar Chelsea, a gay bar on 7th Avenue and West 19th Street and a nearby bus stop before he was finally apprehended around the corner, according to the outlet.
Garcia is also suspected of another assault in Lower Manhattan earlier this month, when he allegedly kicked someone on South Street on August 3, around 6.20pm, the New York Post reported.
Earlier that day at around noon, he is alleged to have pointed a knife at a bystander on Pine Street, who had yelled at him for urinating in public.
Garcia's relative expressed shock at his arrest.
'This can’t be true,' she told the Daily News. 'If you knew what kind of people we are, you would understand why I’m reacting this way.'
'I can’t imagine he’s gone that far. Nobody told us anything . . . I can’t imagine that would be linked to us. I don’t understand.'
Solorzano has told of his horror at being attacked.
Soon, the backpack is ripped away, as the attacker continues to slash him with the weapon
Terrified and bloodied, the Queens resident desperately tries to grab the weapon away from his attacker
Solorzano, who suffered three slash wounds to the head falls to the ground several times as he fights for his life
Eventually, Solorazano, severely bloodied, flees, and his attacker does not follow. Police say they have the charged Garcia with assault and attempted murder in connection to the attack
After Solorzana been driven off, the attacker proceeds to smash the ATM screens one by one before walking away. Police said a suspect in the attack is in custody pending charges
'He hit me. In the bank, he hit me,' Solorzano, speaking in Spanish, told the outlet.
'The guy that got hit in the head was screaming,' a witness told the New York Post.
'It's crazy,' the witness said. 'People were shouting and we saw the guy laying down - a lot of blood.'
Solorazano required two surgeries after the attack, his friend Manny, told the Daily News.
'The whole family is in Mexico,' he said of his friend. 'I didn’t ask him about what happened, I just wanted to make sure he’s okay.'
Chase released a statement on the incident, saying it had assisted with the investigation.
'We shared the video of this senseless attack with police and continue to work with them on their investigation,' a spokeswoman said.
'We’ve reached out to our customer and his family, and share their hopes for continued recovery.'
Solorzano remains in stable condition, police said.
The smashed ATMs (pictured) seen in the aftermath of the brutal attack
During a recent ATM visit at a Lower Manhattan Chase bank, a 51-year-old man was brutally attacked by a hatchet-wielding lunatic, surveillance footage shows
Crime rates throughout New York City have been increasing over last year
The attack comes amid a growing crime wave in the Big Apple, with more and more assaults happening in broad daylight.
On Friday, an aspiring actor who once appeared as an extra on Law & Order was shot dead in a Bronx deli.
Jayquan Lewis, 21, was standing at the cashier counter at BH gourmet Deli in Fordham at 4pm when another man collapsed to the floor, in a 14-second clip published by the New York Post.
Another person standing next to Lewis at the counter on his phone is seen fleeing out of frame.
After fatally shooting Lewis the gunman appears to casually walk out of the deli.
Lewis was shot three times in the chest, three times in the arm and one time in the stomach. He was pronounced dead at St Barnabas Hospital.
Jayquan Lewis, 21, was shot point-blank inside a Bronx deli just after 4pm Friday
Police are still looking for the killer, whose motive is unknown.
And just one week before, two people died with one victim severely injured in two separate but 'likely connected' shootings in Brooklyn.
The gunman shot three men sitting in a car that the NYPD said was damaged in a car accident on August 8 around 12.30am, and then opened fire at a party of 100 to 150 people at an event space down the block.
Two of the men in the car died - Bronx resident Nicholas Palmer and Queens resident Novada Bailey, both 36. A third unidentified man was critically injured.
At least two other people were also shot and injured during the incident, with one person rushed to the hospital and another driving himself to a hospital about 24 miles away in Westchester County.
According to NYPD data, felony assaults are up 5.3 percent from last year, as of August 15, with misdemeanor assaults up 2.1 percent.
Police investigated the scene at B.H. Gourmet Deli on Friday, where Lewis was fatally shot
One of the five shooting victims was taken into an ambulance on August 7
Murders have also increased, from 275 reported during the same time frame in 2020 to 277 reported thus far in 2021.
There have also been 10.7 percent more shooting incidents, with 7 percent more victims.
And grand larcenies have also increased 1.6 percent, with grand larcenies from automobiles skyrocketing 20.2 percent.
Rapes have increased 8.6 percent and hate crimes have nearly doubled.
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