The axe-wielding man who was filmed going on rampage in a New York McDonald’s over the weekend was rejected by a young woman moments leading before the incident, a witness has revealed – sending the jilted suspect into a rage.
The incident at the Lower East Side eatery on Delancey Street in Manhattan transpired early Friday at roughly 2:25 am, police said – and saw 31-year-old Bronx man Michael Palacios arrested for brandishing the weapon.
Footage of the ensuing frenzy showed Palacios threatening customers while swinging the axe, breaking panes of glass and intimidating onlookers, following a verbal disagreement that quickly turned physical.
A delivery man who witnessed the fight has since revealed that the altercation began after Palacios, who reportedly had been drinking, was spurned by the unidentified woman after asking for her number in the store moments before.
‘So basically he got into an argument with a girl, and then the girl rejected him,’ Ruben G, an Uber Eats delivery man who witnessed the fight, told The New York Post Sunday.
‘She didn’t want to talk to him,’ Ruben went on to reveal – adding that the woman’s disinterest did little to dissuade the man.
‘He kept going at her,’ the delivery man said. ‘That’s when the guys she was with stepped in.’
The instance described by Ruben roughly describes the moment the widely seen footage begins, in which the several young men are seen attacking the suspect, pushing him up against a garbage can.
The individuals proceed to punch Palacios, the extremely graphic footage shows, who is surprisingly unaffected by the barrage of blows.
Appearing to accept the hits in a show of strength and superiority, a smirking Palacios eventually becomes enraged, producing the axe from a bag he had had on his person.
At this point the other customers grew apologetic – but Palacios, incensed, presses forward, swinging the weapon at them while also threating other diners.
‘They started arguing. It all led to that,’ Ruben recalled, adding that the suspect had asked for theyoung woman’s phone number.
In the footage of the incident, a young woman who appeared to be a part of the customers’ group seemed to stop the burgeoning quarrel, which continued to escalate until police were called.
It is not clear if the woman in the footage is the same person that Ruben is referring to. DailyMail.com reached out to The Manhattan Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information Sunday for more details on the incident.
‘He was trying to talk to her and whatever. He was asking for her number, where she was from, and I guess she felt some way,’ Ruben said. ‘She replied back in a certain manner that she didn’t want to give too much info and he kept pushing on.’
The delivery worker added that Palacios was visibly ‘drunk’ in the buildup to his blowup, telling the paper ‘I [could] smell the liquor off him.’
Palacios is seen in the footage taking punches from the men before calmly producing the axe from his backpack, which he then begins wielding in the air and threatens those around him.
The three others with whom he had been fighting with quickly run for cover with some hiding in a disabled toilet, while others run to the back of the restaurant in the hope of escaping.
But the aggressor appears to have a score to settle and begins using his axe to destroy furniture causing thousands of dollars of damage.
He is seen throwing the ax down against several of the restaurants tables which are smashed into tiny pieces.
He also slams the axe against a glass panel which shatters immediately on impact, before cornering one of his previous attackers who proceeds to plea for mercy while cowering against a wall.
He then slaps one of the men he was fighting with out of his chair – while menacing other scared diners, at one point shouting, ‘Don’t be afraid of me, be afraid of him!’
After the rampage, Palacios fled the scene on his bike but was picked up a short time later by police on nearby Ludlow Street, the driver said. Police were able to track him down in part because of the widely shared footage of the incident.
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Palacios – who social media collectively dubbed ‘the axe man’ upon seeing the footage – was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, three counts of menacing and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
The man then takes time to threaten those with whom he had been fighting with earlier shoving the axe in their faces, although not actually hitting any of them with it.
Nevertheless, those who are faced with a madman holding the weapon are understandably scared and attempt to reason with him, urging him to calm down.
‘Bro, please! You better chill!,’ pleaded one man. Palacios then went over to one woman who appeared stunned shouting ‘Don’t be afraid of me, be afraid of him!’
The anger on display is significant as the axman continues to smash up tables and then punches another of the diners who is sitting at his table with his girlfriend, knocking him to the floor.
Other diners in the restaurant appear to be completely powerless in their attempt to stop him from doing further damage. Eventually the man feels he has made his point and simply grabs his backpack, his bicycle and walks out of the restaurant.
Incredibly, nobody was hurt in the incident, according to the NYPD. ‘Upon arrival of officers, witnesses at the location reported that the suspect got into a physical dispute with three unknown males inside of the location,’ DCPI said.
‘The suspect removed an ax from his backpack and menaced the unknown males. The suspect intentionally caused property damage to the establishment.
‘The individual was taken into custody by responding officers. A search incident to a lawful arrest, an additional knife was recovered from his backpack.’
Palacios has since been released and has retained an attorney for the impending trail for the charge leveled against him, the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office told DailyMail.
His attorney, the DA said, is Jamie Niskanen-Singer from Legal Aid. Attempts made by DailyMail.com Sunday to contact Niskanen-Singer were not immediately successful.
It is likely the Palacios will argue he acted in self defense as the incident saw him attacked first.
On Saturday, Palacios appeared to be bragging about the encounter on his Instagram, posting a photo of him confidently looking down the customers he was seen threatening moments before whipping out the weapon.
The incident is the latest in a number of violent episodes at New York City’s McDonald’s.
In July, a McDonald’s worker was pepper sprayed in what appeared to be an attempted robbery in Brooklyn.
Last month, a fight over cold french fries led to the shooting of a McDonald’s worker in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The horrific scenes come despite NYC Mayor Eric Adam’s vow to crackdown on crime in the city, which is up nearly 40 percent from last year.
New Yorkers have been growing weary over the latest spike in violence and crimes on the city streets and subways – as well as the widespread looting and physical altercations in many neighborhoods.
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Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
