A deranged, suicidal man ranting against the government used two knives to saw at his wrists outside the “Today” show Thursday morning.
The man was unkempt and in his 50s, witnesses said. He wore a grey T-shirt and white baseball cap when he staggered up to “Today” show fans outside 10 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan and used broken English to tell anyone who would listen that the Internal Revenue Service was corrupt and that the agency “ruined his life.”
Witnesses said the man was ranting about the IRS and tossed a stack of papers in the air before cutting himself.
The lunatic was shouting about peppermint tea and trying to get bystanders to read a pile of papers — reportedly IRS documents of some sort — until he tossed the stack into the air about 7:50 a.m.
He then whipped out a pocket knife with three or four-inch blade and yelled “I’m going to cut myself!” twice before hacking at his own wrist.Security guards tackled the man, who could be seen bleeding beneath a partition outside the studio.
Someone wrestled the blade from the loony before he pulled out a second knife and started cutting away at his other wrist. NYPD cops and plaza security guards rushed towards the man with pepper-spray and tackled him, sending him sprawling.
“It happened really fast — and then he was down,” said 21-year-old Jossie Edwards, a tourist from Easley, S.C.
