Metro

NYC shoplifter uses hatchet to smash multiple windows, hits employee at CVS

A hatchet-wielding shoplifter smashed multiple store windows at an Upper East Side CVS on Thursday after employees prevented him from stealing items inside the store, police said. 

The maniac went berserk at the 84th Street and Lexington Avenue pharmacy shortly before 4 p.m. when he picked up a trash can and smashed it before fleeing outside.

The 38-year-old man then allegedly shattered several windows with a hatchet and struck a 37-year-old employee in the hand with the weapon, the NYPD said. 

Smashed windows at CVS
The windows smashed by the shoplifter at an Upper East side CVS on Thursday.
X / Robert Foster

Police were called to the area before he entered the pharmacy because he was harassing locals, according to cops. 

Wild video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, from local site UpperEastSite shows the man wreaking havoc outside the store. 

“What the f–k….You should bleed to death, a–hole,” a woman yells in the clip as glass rains to the ground. 

“What the f–k is wrong with you?”

After smashing the windows, the man fled northbound on Lexington Avenue.

Workers are seen boarding up the windows after a shoplifter went on a smashing rampage.
Workers are seen boarding up the windows after a shoplifter went on a smashing rampage.
Christopher Sadowski

Police arrested him and recovered the hatchet soon after, police said. 

He was taken to a local hospital for an evaluation while charges are pending, sources said.