Helicopters, Carjacking at Memorial Park and Shooting on I-84 At Exit 11, Create Traffic Blockage and Scare
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| Ben Royce of BeaconCitizen.com's first statement at BeaconCitizen about his first encountering the shooting event. |
Helicopters started hovering this afternoon at around 4pm, as well as early this morning between 7:30am and 8:30am.
Rumors of escaped inmates from our neighboring jail circulated, but have not been confirmed, and have in fact been denied by an anonymous source.
A phone call to Beacon Police at 4:30pm revealed nothing as they were tight lipped, saying they "could not release anything" and that all was fine, nothing to be worried about. When asked if I-84 and 9D were closed, they said no. However, drivers on I-84 reported closures, and 9D were very backed up with tractor trailers, and quite closed, causing traffic for hours. @Michael, K?, a commuter stuck in the traffic wondered via Twitter if he should stay in Beacon and have a drink.
UPDATE (5/8/15, 7:30am): Police have confirmed that a man carjacked a car at Memorial Park at knifepoint at around 3:30pm, state police in Poughkeepsie said late Thursday night, according to RecordOnline.com. The man abandoned the car on North Elm street and was chased on foot by Beacon officers as he ran across eastbound and westbound lanes of I-84. After threatening officers with a knife, he was fatally shot.
There is yellow police tape around the bathrooms at Memorial Park across from Ron's ice cream, a reader reported into us at A Little Beacon Blog's Facebook page.
I don't know who was carjacked as of yet, and thoughts and prayers go out to that driver in a scary situation.
At around 5pm (as far as I could tell) Facebook started lighting up with reports of helicopters. Prior to that, there was no talk of any mayhem as everyone was enjoying the beautiful day. One source said they were news copters. There were indeed at least 2 helicopters hovering above and east of the Newburgh-Beacon bridge.
Then a tweet tip came from @Cath619 in that a driver, Ben Royce of BeaconCitizen.com on 84 saw a knife wielding man get shot on Exit 11 of I-84 by a cop at around 3:45pm. Picture of that statement from Ben Royce of BeaconCitizen.com is above.
UPDATE: (5/8/15 10:10am): Ben has since flushed out his statement after having been to the Beacon Police Department the night of the shooting to give them his statement. Excerpted with his permission, here is Ben's experience (you can read his full description here). Ben had no prior knowledge of the carjacking at Memorial Park by this man who was to later run in front of his car and make eye contact with Ben. Ben's kids were also in the car with him, and he told them to duck as the man came running out of the woods:
"I slowed down on the entrance ramp Eastbound I-84. Because of all the police cars, I didn't want to hit a cop. As I crept forward past the police cars to where the ramp merges with the highway, the guy runs out of the woods directly in front of my car, holding a large knife.
"He motioned at me with his hand and head as if you would to someone when you're just crossing a parking lot, like: just trying to get my attention, casual. For a split second, I was afraid he wanted to get in my car. But the cops were too close on his heels, yelling at him."
A phone call to Beacon Police at 4:30pm revealed nothing as they were tight lipped, saying they "could not release anything" and that all was fine, nothing to be worried about. When asked if I-84 and 9D were closed, they said no. However, drivers on I-84 reported closures, and 9D were very backed up with tractor trailers, and quite closed, causing traffic for hours. @Michael, K?, a commuter stuck in the traffic wondered via Twitter if he should stay in Beacon and have a drink.
UPDATE (5/8/15, 7:30am): Police have confirmed that a man carjacked a car at Memorial Park at knifepoint at around 3:30pm, state police in Poughkeepsie said late Thursday night, according to RecordOnline.com. The man abandoned the car on North Elm street and was chased on foot by Beacon officers as he ran across eastbound and westbound lanes of I-84. After threatening officers with a knife, he was fatally shot.
There is yellow police tape around the bathrooms at Memorial Park across from Ron's ice cream, a reader reported into us at A Little Beacon Blog's Facebook page.
I don't know who was carjacked as of yet, and thoughts and prayers go out to that driver in a scary situation.
At around 5pm (as far as I could tell) Facebook started lighting up with reports of helicopters. Prior to that, there was no talk of any mayhem as everyone was enjoying the beautiful day. One source said they were news copters. There were indeed at least 2 helicopters hovering above and east of the Newburgh-Beacon bridge.
Then a tweet tip came from @Cath619 in that a driver, Ben Royce of BeaconCitizen.com on 84 saw a knife wielding man get shot on Exit 11 of I-84 by a cop at around 3:45pm. Picture of that statement from Ben Royce of BeaconCitizen.com is above.
UPDATE: (5/8/15 10:10am): Ben has since flushed out his statement after having been to the Beacon Police Department the night of the shooting to give them his statement. Excerpted with his permission, here is Ben's experience (you can read his full description here). Ben had no prior knowledge of the carjacking at Memorial Park by this man who was to later run in front of his car and make eye contact with Ben. Ben's kids were also in the car with him, and he told them to duck as the man came running out of the woods:
"I slowed down on the entrance ramp Eastbound I-84. Because of all the police cars, I didn't want to hit a cop. As I crept forward past the police cars to where the ramp merges with the highway, the guy runs out of the woods directly in front of my car, holding a large knife.
"He motioned at me with his hand and head as if you would to someone when you're just crossing a parking lot, like: just trying to get my attention, casual. For a split second, I was afraid he wanted to get in my car. But the cops were too close on his heels, yelling at him."
***
Editors Note: I asked Ben for a description of how the guy was running. He said: "He jogged out of the woods, then he slowed in front of me. Then as the cops closed in and were yelling, he full on sprinted across the highway, which was completely insane."
***
Back to Ben's original account:
"So he booked it across four lanes of highway as if it were nothing. He hesitated more for me going 5 mph on the ramp than he did for the whole highway. Two cops ran after him, and were directly on his heels by the time all three got to the other side. It absolutely blows my mind none of them got hit, the traffic was heavy and fast.
"I turned my head to deal with my safety because now cars are honking and screeching everywhere and I'm merging, and so I didn't see the actual shooting. But I heard it. It was close quarters and with the knife, so it was justified as far as I can tell."
For Ben's full account from his perspective, read it here. He calls the event "random and insane."
In what is apparently an unrelated coincidence, Key Bank in Fishkill was robbed (or at least held up) at 4:40pm Thursday by a man who waved "what appeared to be a handgun, demanded money, and then fled" according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
At 6:27pm, The Beacon City Schools sent out a robo-call that the Middle School Choir Concert would be canceled for the evening.
Helicopter whirring has subsided from Beacon bridge on the Beacon side as of 6:30pm, but continue to fly low throughout the city. Not sure if they are police or news helicopters. Traffic continues to be stopped on 9D and parts of I-84, as pictured below.
Pictured below is a snapshot of 9D traffic at 5:30pm headed north after passing about 10 tractor trailers which rarely frequent 9D. Side roads had to be taken by Beaconites if anyone wanted to get home within a reasonable amount of time, but many were stuck in their cars.
"So he booked it across four lanes of highway as if it were nothing. He hesitated more for me going 5 mph on the ramp than he did for the whole highway. Two cops ran after him, and were directly on his heels by the time all three got to the other side. It absolutely blows my mind none of them got hit, the traffic was heavy and fast.
"I turned my head to deal with my safety because now cars are honking and screeching everywhere and I'm merging, and so I didn't see the actual shooting. But I heard it. It was close quarters and with the knife, so it was justified as far as I can tell."
For Ben's full account from his perspective, read it here. He calls the event "random and insane."
In what is apparently an unrelated coincidence, Key Bank in Fishkill was robbed (or at least held up) at 4:40pm Thursday by a man who waved "what appeared to be a handgun, demanded money, and then fled" according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
At 6:27pm, The Beacon City Schools sent out a robo-call that the Middle School Choir Concert would be canceled for the evening.
Helicopter whirring has subsided from Beacon bridge on the Beacon side as of 6:30pm, but continue to fly low throughout the city. Not sure if they are police or news helicopters. Traffic continues to be stopped on 9D and parts of I-84, as pictured below.
Pictured below is a snapshot of 9D traffic at 5:30pm headed north after passing about 10 tractor trailers which rarely frequent 9D. Side roads had to be taken by Beaconites if anyone wanted to get home within a reasonable amount of time, but many were stuck in their cars.
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| Traffic stopped at 9D and 1-84 as troopers were posted all along I-84 all the way back to the Taconic Sate Parkway, according to @BoredBehindBarn Photo Credit: @BoredBehindBarn |
