A man has stabbed two employees inside the Museum of Modern Art in New York, leaping over a reception desk to attack them after he was denied entrance for previous incidents of disorderly conduct.
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Police said the two employees were stabbed multiple times and both were in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital later on Saturday.
People posting accounts to social media said museumgoers ran for the exits in confusion and chaos after the stabbing.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence And Counterterrorism John Miller said the man's membership was revoked for two separate incidents of disorderly behaviour at the museum in recent days. He was being sought.
"He became upset about now being allowed entrance, and then jumped over the reception desk and proceeded to attack and stab two employees of the museum multiple times," Miller said.
Miller said the employees were stabbed in the back, in the collar bone, in the back of neck and were rushed within minutes to Bellevue.
Police trying to locate the man had access to video of him leaving the museum and were aware of the direction in which he left.
Miller did not identify the man by name but described him as a white male wearing a black jacket, blue surgical mask, a colourfully patterned shirt and hood. Miller said the man was a regular at the museum, and that the museum had adequate security.
Law enforcement officials are investigating the attack, and the names of the employees were not immmediately released.
Australian Associated Press