A bizarre situation took place outside of the United Nations building in Manhattan on December 2nd, as police attempted to negotiate with a suicidal man armed with a shotgun.
The man, later identified as 65 year old William Tingler, of Ormand Beach, Florida, was seen pacing back and forth outside of the building, pointing the gun under his chin.
#UN HQ building on #lockdown after armed man spotted outside.
A view from my office pic.twitter.com/Jw9nIMRHvw— iMassi (@abdel_imassi) December 2, 2021
Police were called to the scene, where they found Tingler pacing on First Avenue between East 42nd and 45th streets. He refused to drop the gun, which led to a standoff that lasted for nearly three hours.
According to U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, “As part of the negotiations with NYPD, the man said he wanted to first give some papers to the UN.”
“Our Security officers took possession of the papers,” Dujarric said. “As soon as the man surrendered, we returned the papers to the NYPD. The papers appeared to be of a medical nature, nothing related to the U.N.”
That bizarre moment was captured on video and shared on Twitter.
#happeningnow The Man in red appears to have delivered several notebooks to the officers, he knelt down reached into a bag and delivered them to the officers.
Heavily armored officers then moved in to retrieve them. #unitednations #standoff #nyc pic.twitter.com/i9qhpVoEtr— Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) December 2, 2021
Tingler was finally taken into custody at approximately 1:45 p.m., and was taken to a nearby hospital for psychological evaluation, according to police. Sources have claimed that when he was arrested, officers found a “manifesto” in his possession.
He has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, making terroristic threats, menacing, reckless endangerment, and obstruction.
NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker has said there was no evidence of any links to terrorism, though detectives are looking into the names and notations within Tingler’s documents for any clues into his behavior.
“Essentially, he wanted the U.N. to receive his documents, which is ultimately what we agreed to do — provide those documents to the U.N. — and he said if we could do that, he would put the gun down, which is exactly what happened,” Tucker told reporters outside the U.N. headquarters.
The shotgun was found to only have one round in it.
Police have reported that Tingler had traveled from Florida to New York City the day before the incident, and had checked into the Millennium Hotel on 44th Street. They also revealed that he walked over to the UN building on the day of the incident with a pair of suspicious backpacks and the shotgun.
