NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — A Brooklyn man, accused of cutting off his pregnant wife's arm with a meat cleaver, was arrested in Niagara Falls on Saturday.
Yong Lu, 35, was arrested at the One Welcome Center near the Rainbow Bridge. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Lu had purchased a life jacket before he was arrested.
Niagara Falls Police Chief Bryan DalPorto said a patrol officer was walking the downtown tourist area beat and was therefore in the right place to arrest Lu quickly. DalPorto said Lu was likely hoping to evade police by trying to cross the international border.
One Welcome Center employee Robert Blevins, who captured the arrest on his cell phone and shared it with 2 On Your Side, said he and his colleagues were visited Saturday morning by U.S. Marshals, who were sharing Lu's picture because they believed he was in the area. Blevins said it was because of that visit, he and other colleagues recognized Lu and worked together to positively identify him to police.
He has been taken back to New York City, where the NYPD now has him in custody.
According to Crime Stoppers Buffalo, Lu attempted to a solicit a bus driver into letting him hide in a luggage compartment in a bus to cross him into Canada. The bus driver refused.
WNBC reports the injured woman is in critical but stable condition.