Alleged hatchet-wielding maniac busted by NYPD for brutal ATM attack

By Edward Era Barbacena

A 37-year-old military vet has been busted in the terrifying, caught-on-camera hatchet attack on an ATM customer in Lower Manhattan — and is also suspected in two other incidents involving strangers earlier this month, law-enforcement sources said Wednesday.

Yonkers cops had been separately seeking to arrest the suspect, Aaron Garcia, too — for an unspecified Feb. 15 incident and on four bench warrants for failing to appear in court, sources said.  

All of those incidents allegedly involved domestic disputes and charges ranging from harassment and stalking to criminal contempt, sources said.

Garcia of Yonkers was charged with attempted murder and assault in the bloody violence that took place late Sunday afternoon inside a Chase bank in the Financial District, the NYPD said.

Aaron Garcia, who allegedly attacked a man with
a hatchet at a Chase bank in the Financial District.

The suspect was arrested following a psychiatric evaluation at  Bellevue Hospital, where he was taken after cops caught him allegedly smashing the windows of parked cars and businesses in Chelsea around 10 p.m. Tuesday, sources said.

During the vandalism spree, Garcia came face-to-face with a 54-year-old man while wielding a hammer, sources said.

Garcia bumped into the man, then raised the hammer and grunted but didn’t say anything, causing the man to fear for his life, sources said.

Around noon that same day, Garcia also allegedly brandished a knife and pointed it at a passer-by who yelled at him to stop urinating in public on Pine Street, sources said.

Shocking surveillance video from Sunday’s attack allegedly shows Garcia using a hatchet to repeatedly slash a 51-year-man during an unprovoked, sneak assault that began when the victim was using an ATM machine around 5:20 p.m.

After Garcia allegedly struck his victim in the leg, the two men struggled for control of the weapon as the wounded man desperately tried to protect himself, the video shows.

At one point, Garcia is allegedly seen bringing the hatchet down on the already bloodied victim’s head during the unrelenting rampage.

Garcia then allegedly smashed the screens of the ATM machines before leaving the hatchet behind when he fled the scene, cops said.