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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