[2] On October 23, 2014, Thompson approached a group of four New York City police officers from behind in the rain on Jamaica Avenue.
[2][6] While attempting to shoot Thompson, the officers also wounded a female civilian who was struck in the lower back by a stray bullet.
[2][7][8] 25-year-old police officer Kenneth Healey was critically wounded after Thompson's hatchet struck the side of his head and fractured his skull.
In addition, a 29-year-old civilian woman suffered a gunshot wound in her lower back, which was inflicted by a stray bullet fired by police officers as they were shooting at Thompson.
[citation needed] He also made several online posts railing against government, whites, injustices in American society, oppression abroad, and the Western world in general.
[14] According to the FBI report, Thompson had tattoos indicating association with a known black separatist extremist group, and he previously expressed support for "mass revolt" against the "white-dominated" political system in his own writings.
They further speculate that Thompson may have been motivated by the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MI two months prior to the attack.