Several New York City police officers opened fire early Sunday, killing a 35-year-old man accused of barging through the back entrance of a police precinct station house and attacking an officer with a butcher knife when she attempted to fend him off, according to authorities.
The fatal shooting occurred on a street in Brownsville, Brooklyn, near the 73rd Precinct station house, when the suspect cut an officer with a 14-inch knife, according to police.
“Every day our officers put on their uniforms, they encounter dangerous situations on the street, but it’s a different kind of danger when someone comes directly into a precinct armed with a knife and attacks our officers,” said Chief of Patrol Phillip Rivera of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at a news conference Sunday.
The suspect’s name was not immediately published. The motivation for the station house attack is still being investigated.
The attack occurred about 5:24 a.m., when the suspect was shown on security camera attempting to enter the station house’s barred front entrance, Rivera stated.
The suspect then allegedly moved to the back of the station house and entered via a door that Rivera stated is plainly designated for usage only by authorized NYPD officers.
“He entered the rear of the precinct and was immediately confronted by a police officer who was assigned to station-house security,” Rivera recalled.
When the officer escorted the man to the front of the station house for help, the suspect allegedly pulled out a butcher knife and attacked her, but the officer was able to beat him off, Rivera said.
Rivera claimed the guy fled out the back door, allegedly still carrying the knife. According to Rivera, several cops pursued the man down the street and repeatedly ordered him to drop the firearm.
According to Rivera, as the man “lunged at an officer with the knife extended toward that officer,” other cops opened fire, hitting him multiple times.
According to Rivera, the suspect was transferred to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn and later pronounced dead.
The officer who was attacked at the station house was taken to the hospital, treated for what Rivera described as minor injuries, and released.
“Thank God our sister is on the mend, but this was a clear targeted attack on New York City police officers,” Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association union, said in a statement. “This person showed no fear when he marched into a police precinct and attacked a uniformed officer; there is no telling what he could have done to innocent New Yorkers on the street.
Despite being injured, our sister pursued this man with her fellow police officers, and they ended the threat before anybody else was hurt.”
“This is another example of the extraordinary work our police officers are doing in an incredibly dangerous environment,” according to Hendry’s statement.
