New York officers attacked during New Year festivities

The New Year's Eve revelry in the United States was interrupted by violence in New York City and elsewhere.

A young man wielding a machete attacked three police officers on Saturday near the celebration in New York City's Times Square, authorities said, striking two of them in the head before an NYPD officer shot the man in the shoulder.

The attack happened shortly after 10 pm, about eight blocks from the square in Midtown Manhattan, just outside of the area where revelers are screened for weapons.

"Unprovoked, a 19-year-old male approached an officer and attempted to strike him over the head with a machete," New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. "The male then struck two additional officers in the head with the machete."

The three officers were taken to Bellevue Hospital, one with a fractured skull and another with a bad cut. Both were expected to recover. The injuries to the third officer were not disclosed.

The New York Post identified the suspect as Trevor Bickford, who was on an FBI watchlist, citing multiple law enforcement sources on Sunday.

Bickford, from Wells, Maine, is believed to have become radicalized in recent years and was on the FBI's terrorism "Guardian Watchlist".

The NYPD mounts a massive security operation every year to keep the New Year's Eve crowd safe. Thousands of officers are usually sent to the area.

In a separate incident, a man was stabbed in the neck with scissors by another man a block from Times Square on Saturday, police and witnesses said.

The stabbing occurred around 8:45 pm when a fight broke out between the two on West 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue near Bryant Park, police were quoted by the Post as saying.

In Ocala, Florida, two people were killed and four others injured in a shooting early on Sunday, authorities said. Gunfire broke out around 4:30 am in an area where a crowd of about 100 people were gathered, police said in a news release.

In Mobile, Alabama, one person was killed and nine hurt in a shooting a few blocks away from where thousands were in the streets for a New Year's Eve party, police said.

The shooting happened a few blocks from the main stage for the MoonPie Over Mobile festival. The shooter and the person killed appeared to know each other, Mobile police chief Paul Prine told reporters near the scene.

In Philadelphia, nine people were shot, including two teenagers, over the weekend, FOX 29 reported.

Over the last three years, at least five people were killed and 25 shot in the US' third-largest city in the 12-hour stretch between late New Year's Eve and early New Year's Day, the Sun-Times reported citing police records.

Agencies contributed to this story.