Armed man arrested after hour-long Newburgh police search

Police found a man hiding in a basement at 15 Liberty Street after an hour-long search that began with reports of someone waving a machete and a handgun near Benkard and Liberty streets in Newburgh. Troopers recovered the handgun at 23 Benkard Avenue, and officers later found the machete near 21 Liberty Street.

The call came in around 4:40 a.m. June 29, when police were sent to the area for a man dressed in all black who was running down the street with both weapons, according to the incident details. City of Newburgh police, New York State Police and a Town of Newburgh K-9 unit all took part in the search, which moved through several blocks in the dense neighborhood before officers located the suspect about 6:15 a.m. and took him into custody.

The sequence left residents in a part of Newburgh’s South End dealing with an armed search before dawn, with officers checking basements and street-level locations to track the suspect’s path. The recovery points at 23 Benkard Avenue and near 21 Liberty Street show how quickly the search spread across the immediate block after the original report at Benkard and Liberty.

The report available Monday did not list a motive or the full charges, but the arrest underscores the speed with which a weapons complaint can turn into a multi-agency operation in the city. Newburgh’s recent crime tracking has continued to draw attention because third-party summaries based on FBI 2024 data place the city among New York’s highest violent-crime jurisdictions, and official state crime statistics are compiled through the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and the FBI’s UCR and CDE systems.

For residents who need records, the City of Newburgh Police Department says reports can be obtained in person at 55 Broadway, Newburgh, NY 12550, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. New York State Police says some records can be requested through FOIL, although investigation-specific material may be restricted. The early-morning arrest ended the search, but the weapons call again put a spotlight on how quickly public safety risks can escalate in a residential block in Orange County.