By Della Hasselle, Tara Kyle and Jordan Heller
DNAinfo Staff
PENN PLAZA — A man just released from prison for armed bank robbery was shot in the leg by police Thursday after trying to hold up another bank near Madison Square Garden, police said.
The NYPD said John Stolarz, 69, brandished a knife when officers confronted him after the he tried to rob a Chase branch at 2 Penn Plaza about 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
One officer fired two shots at the ex-con, striking him once in the leg when he refused to drop the weapon, police said.
The incident began when Stolarz, who was released from jail on Wednesday, walked up to the bank's customer service desk and demanded cash, police said.
The employee at the customer service desk replied that the bank did not keep money there when the man asked for fifties and hundreds, the New York Times reported.
A manager came over, saw the would-be thief holding a knife and backed away, police said.
The man then fled the scene, and police in the area began to follow him but did not see him carrying the weapon, police sources said.
The man ducked into Penn Station and passed through a crowd of shoppers and commuters before exiting the station near West 31st Street and Seventh Avenue, police said.
Officers then approached the man and repeatedly ordered him to drop the knife when he pulled it out, opening fire after he refused, police said.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and was listed in stable condition, police said.
"I saw him trying to hurriedly get away — it looked like he was running from something," said witness David Kenny, 49, of Williamsburg, who said he saw a man running wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and black knapsack.
"He cut the corner [at Seventh Avenue and West 31st Street]," he added. Next thing I heard: gun shots."
Andreas Aguilas, 20, who works on the 12th floor of 7 Penn Plaza, which overlooks the scene, said she heard two loud shots.
"A few minutes later I saw my co-workers looking out the window," she said. "From the window I saw two pools of blood and a whole bunch of policeman.
"It's scary because I'm here everyday," Aguilas added. "There's a lot of cops around, you trust this kind of thing is not gonna happen."
Scott Inman, a 36-year-old newspaper vendor who works in the area, was coming out of a parking garage when he heard the gunfire.
"As soon as I hear a gunshot, I see 10 to 15 cops scatter," he said.
"I'm not scared," he added, "but it's one of those stories I won't tell my family."
