It was not immediately clear why the 34-year-old man entered the Seaport Buffet, near Sheepshead Bay, around 5 p.m. and attacked the restaurant’s employees.

The victims were taken to Lutheran Hospital, where the chef, 34, was pronounced dead. The two others, the 60-year-old owner of the buffet and its 50-year-old manager, were in critical condition late Tuesday, the police said.

Detective George Tsourovakas said the attacker was arrested a short distance away after fleeing. The police said that the hammer had been recovered. Charges were pending.

The police did not immediately release the names of the victims or the suspect.

Seaport Buffet sits on a waterfront street populated by many restaurants.

Samantha Randazzo, who works at Randazzo’s Clam Bar across the street, said in an interview with WCBS-TV that customers from the Seaport Buffet came running into the clam bar after the attack. “We heard a guy say, ‘Lock all the doors, a guy is killing people,'” she said. She said that the attacker “was just screaming crazy words, like ‘I’m killing everybody, this world is hell.'”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.