Crime scene photos: NYC sledgehammer attack

On November 11, 2012, Jake Nolan accompanied his cousin, psychiatrist Dr. Pamela Buchbinder, to a NYC Home Depot where Buchbinder purchased a sledgehammer; 24 hours later, the sledgehammer became a key piece of evidence in a crime that ended with Nolan and Dr. Michael Weiss in the hospital.

Dr. Buchbinder and Jake Nolan can be seen, upper right, in a New York City Home Depot the night before Nolan attacked Dr. Michael Weiss — Buchbinder’s ex-lover. Buchbinder has not commented on why she purchased the sledgehammer.

NYC sledgehammer attack

Dr. Michael Weiss, a psychiatrist, maintained a home/office in midtown Manhattan.

Inside the crime scene

The morning of November 12, 2012, Jake Nolan arrived at Weiss’ building.

Inside the crime scene

After asking Weiss to print out some financial forms, Nolan went to a restroom to prepare for the attack. Weiss says Nolan came out swinging the sledgehammer.

Inside the crime scene

Weiss says he ducked just in time, missing the full brunt of the sledgehammer which hit him on the shoulder.

Inside the crime scene

Weiss says Nolan then reached for the kitchen knife he brought with him.

Inside the crime scene

Nolan cut Weiss several times.

Jacob Nolan takes a selfie

… and eventually spilled into the public hallway where neighbors heard the struggle and called 911. As both injured men waited for help to arrive, Nolan snapped this selfie.

Inside the crime scene

Weiss, physically larger than Nolan, overpowered his attacker. Weiss says he grabbed the knife and cut Nolan in self-defense.

Inside the crime scene

The two men wrestled in Dr. Weiss’ office.

NYC sledgehammer attack

Neither man suffered life-threatening wounds, though Nolan was the more severely injured of the two.

NYC sledgehammer attack

At the time, Nolan claimed Pamela Buchbinder manipulated him into attacking Weiss. After the attack, Nolan was arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder, among other charges. In 2016, he was found guilty and sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison.

NYC sledgehammer attack

In 2017, Pamela Buchbinder was charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree attempted assault. 

In 2022, she accepted a deal to spend 11 years in prison, in exchange for pleading guilty to attempted assault and a lesser charge in connection with Dr. Weiss’s attack.