Wayne Carter, 43, called police in Hackensack, New Jersey at 10 p.m. on Sunday to say he had a knife and was threatening to hurt himself.
Officers swooped on his Clay Street home and kicked in the door to his room, which he had blocked with furniture, Lt. John Heinemann said.
Carter was cowering in the corner of the room holding a 12-inch knife.
When he stood up, he shouted at the officers and frantically stabbed himself all over his body, leaving more then 50 stab wounds.
Officers saw that his intestines were sticking out from a wound in his abdomen, Heinemann said.When they tried to approach him, the man allegedly threw some of his skin and intestines at officers, Heinemann added.
He refused to drop the kitchen knife and allegedly began swinging it at officers.'They tried to talk him down, but they were having no luck. He was slashing at them with the knife,' Lt. Timothy Lloyd told Cliffview Pilot.
Officers sprayed two cans of pepper spray at the man but it had no effect.
They left the room and called the Bergen County SWAT Team, who arrived at 11.40 p.m. and helped subdue Carter with beanbag projectiles.
'The scene was a bloody mess,' a police official said. 'The SWAT team had to be decontaminated due to the amount of blood.'
The man had to be wrapped up to protect his wounds and he was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center.He underwent emergency surgery and remains in critical condition.
The Cliffview Pilot reported that he punctured his small intestine and sliced through a major stomach artery.
Police said the man has a history of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and has previously been taken to the hospital for psychiatric reasons.
Records show he spent nearly a month in the county jail last year after he resisted arrest and made terroristic threats, the Pilot reported.
Authorities are now awaiting the results of blood tests to determine whether he had any drugs in his system at the time of the incident.
