Lawyers for the Iraq war veteran who was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault after he was filmed by surveillance cameras bludgeoning a man with a machete at a Manhattan ATM last month claim he is not fit to stand trial.
Attorneys for Aaron Garcia, 37, of Yonkers asked Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday to have their client submit to a psychiatric evaluation to determine his fitness to be tried.
Garcia appeared on Thursday at his arraignment in Lower Manhattan after his arrest last month. He entered a plea of not guilty.
The judge then remanded Garcia to jail until his next court appearance.
The vicious August 15 assault left Queens resident Miguel Solorzano, 50, bloodied and hospitalized with slashes to his face and leg.
Aaron Garcia, 37, of Yonkers pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges at Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday
Attorneys for Garcia asked Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday to have their client submit to a psychiatric evaluation to determine his fitness to be tried
Garcia is seen on the right in this August 15 surveillance video wielding a hatchet and viciously wounding Miguel Solorzano, 50, of Queens as he was depositing a check at an ATM in Lower Manhattan
At the time of his arrest in mid-August, authorities revealed Garcia was wanted by Yonkers Police, who had arrest warrant out on him for a February 15 assault and four active bench warrants for failure to appear in court.
He had three prior arrests in 2020 stemming from charges of harassment, aggravated harassment, stalking and criminal contempt, Yonkers police said.
A close relative, who asked not to be named, said Garcia had previously served in the Army, and was not the same after his return from deployment to Iraq, the New York Daily News reported.
'He was a little off-center. He was in combat. All he would say is "I saw dead bodies,"' the relative told the outlet.
Garcia was arrested after being held at Bellevue Hospital to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
The horror attack at 5.20pm on August 15 was caught on security camera at the Chase Bank on Broadway in Manhattan's financial district.
The footage shows Solorzano standing at an ATM to deposit a check when a man - identified by police as Garcia - removes a hatchet from a dark bag and walks up behind him.
Garcia then repeatedly hits Solorzano with the hatchet as the victim desperately tries to defend himself.
It begins with the attacker walking into the ATM room with the hatchet in hand
The attacker then suddenly walks up behind Solorzano and begins swinging his weapon in the violent attack
Then Solorzano quickly turns to face his attacker, and tries to fend him off using his backpack
Once he is finished attacking Solorzano, he proceeds to smash the ATM screens before walking away, but not before leaving the hatchet and his backpack behind, police said.
Solorzano, who lives in Corona, suffered three slash wounds to the head and another to his right leg, New York City police officials reported.
He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he underwent two surgeries.
'It scares me. I was asking him not to kill me. I don't know why he wanted to kill me,' Solorzano told WNBC-TV.
Solorzano said that he lives in New York on his own. He works in order to send money home to his wife and children in Mexico.
'He just wanted to hit me. He really wanted to hit me and I don't know why,' Solorzano said.
'I didn't do anything to him.'
Solorazano required two surgeries after the attack, his friend Manny, told the Daily News.
'The whole family is in Mexico,' he said of his friend. 'I didn’t ask him about what happened, I just wanted to make sure he’s okay.'
Garcia was arrested at around 9.20pm on August 17 in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, where he was reportedly found breaking car and storefront windows with a hammer.
Police said Garcia went on his Chelsea rampage at around 8pm, and began by smashing car windows.
Soon, the backpack is ripped away, as the attacker continues to slash him with the weapon
Terrified and bloodied, the Queens resident desperately tries to grab the weapon away from his attacker
Solorzano, who suffered three slash wounds to the head, falls to the ground several times as he fights for his life
Eventually, Solorazano, severely bloodied, flees, and his attacker does not follow
After Solorzana was driven off, the attacker proceeds to smash the ATM screens one by one before walking away
As he walked past Elmo's restaurant on 7th Avenue near 20th Street, he allegedly ran into a 54-year-old man, and raised the hammer as if to hit him, but ran off, the New York Daily News reported.
Chelsea cops said Garcia then smashed a window at Rebar Chelsea, a gay bar on 7th Avenue and West 19th Street and a nearby bus stop before he was finally apprehended around the corner, according to the outlet.
Garcia is also suspected of another assault in Lower Manhattan, when he allegedly kicked someone on South Street on the evening of August 3, the New York Post reported.
Earlier that day at around noon, he is alleged to have pointed a knife at a bystander on Pine Street, who had yelled at him for urinating in public.
Garcia's relative expressed shock at his arrest.
'This can’t be true,' she told the Daily News. 'If you knew what kind of people we are, you would understand why I’m reacting this way.'
'I can’t imagine he’s gone that far. Nobody told us anything . . . I can’t imagine that would be linked to us. I don’t understand.'
Solorzano has told of his horror at being attacked.
Chase released a statement on the incident, saying it had assisted with the investigation.
'We shared the video of this senseless attack with police and continue to work with them on their investigation,' a spokeswoman said.
'We’ve reached out to our customer and his family, and share their hopes for continued recovery.'
The smashed ATMs (pictured) seen in the aftermath of the brutal attack
The image above shows the exterior of the Chase bank branch where the attack took place
The attack comes amid a growing crime wave in the Big Apple.
Two masked, armed men attacked outdoor diners at the high-end Upper East Side restaurant Philippe Chow on Wednesday night. They stole one man's Rolex watch and shot a 28-year-old man on a first date in the leg when he tried to grab the robber's weapon.
Halley Wolowiec and Tamara Behan were eating outside at Le Bilboquet, across the street from Philippe Chow, when they heard a gunshot and glass breaking around 10pm.
'There was no mistaking that sound,' Wolowiec told ABC7.
The attack comes amid a growing crime wave in the Big Apple. Two masked, armed men attacked outdoor diners at the high-end Upper East Side restaurant Philippe Chow on Wednesday night
A 31-year-old man was also approached at the restaurant at the same time when a masked man robbed him of his Rolex Stainless Steel Submariner watch
The armed robbery at Philippe Chow is the third armed robbery targeting New York City diners and their expensive jewelry in the past month
'It was frightening because it was 20 feet away from us and it got very real, very quickly.'
She added that when she looked up she saw everyone running. She said that the restaurant opened its doors and ushered people inside to safety.
Wednesday night's shooting appears very similar to two other recent New York City robberies where diners leaving high-end restaurants were robbed of millions of dollars worth of jewelry. Both times the victims were approached by two men who escaped in a black Mercedes-Benz.
The armed robbery and shooting on September 15 came a week after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio bragged that the city experienced one of its safest Augusts on record.
De Blasio released last month's citywide crime statistics at a press conference on Tuesday, where he said crime in August 2021 dropped 5.4 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Crime in the city is also at one of its lowest levels since 1995, according to CompStat with 6,141 violent incidents compared to 1,979 in the year to date. Those incidents include, murder, rape, assault, burglary, larceny and grand theft auto.
But despite overall crime rates being down, New York City continues to see a surge in violent crimes in some areas, with murders up a whopping 60 per cent in the Bronx alone this year, compared to 2020.
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