Man charged with carrying gun in Times Square
New York City NY May 27 2021 Tuesday was not a good morning for a person detained with the help of a Good Morning America security guard.
At approximately 6:27 a.m., New York Police Department officers working authorized off-duty employment at 1500 Broadway Ave. were informed that a man was walking in front of the location with a handgun, a representative for the NYPD told the Washington Examiner.
The officers canvassed the area and observed a man, later identified as Abm Faisal, with a gun in a holster attached to his right hip, at which point the officers directed Faisal to put his hands up as they secured the handgun, the spokesman continued.
Faisal was arrested without incident, and he is being charged with criminal possession of a weapon, the NYPD said.
The off-duty NYPD detective who first responded to the scene reportedly works security for a company contracted out by Good Morning America. The guard notified NYPD officers who were working paid detail security at ABC, according to the New York Post. A representative for ABC News declined to comment.
The incident follows a shooting that occurred in Times Square weeks ago.
Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, stands accused of opening fire in the commercial hub on May 12 in an attack that wounded three, including a 4-year-old Hispanic girl from Brooklyn who was shot in the leg, 23-year-old tourist Wendy Magrinat from Rhode Island, who was also shot in the leg, and Marcela Aldana, a 43-year-old Hispanic woman who was shot in the foot. All three survived.
Muhammad was apprehended by members of the U.S. Marshals Service in Florida after a four-day manhunt. Police are questioning a woman believed to be Muhammad’s girlfriend as a person of interest to determine whether she knowingly harbored a fugitive, and authorities have not yet recovered the gun.
