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Man with gun outside United Nations is in custody, New York police say

Police said there is no threat to the public.
Image: A man speaks with member of the NYPD outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York City
A man raises his hands after he held a gun under his chin outside U.N. Headquarters in New York on Thursday Dec. 2, 2021.Carlo Allegri / Reuters

An armed man outside the United Nations has surrendered, hours after New York City police officers swarmed the scene Thursday and urged the public to avoid the area.

"The individual is now in custody and there is NO THREAT to the public," the police department said in a tweet just before 1:45 p.m.

The police department's Emergency Services Unit had responded to the area, saying it was "in conversation with an armed individual outside the United Nations," the police department's chief of special operations, Harry J. Wedin, said on Twitter.

Photos showed a man in a red coat holding a gun under his chin before he peacefully gave up the weapon near East 42nd Street at First Avenue.

Even after the tense standoff ended, police urged New Yorkers to avoid the area around the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan where the U.N. is based.

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