A 79-year-old man was killed in a Queens police shooting outside a precinct on Tuesday night after he allegedly walked up to the NYPD stationhouse while brandishing a gun.
According to NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera, a 79-year-old man left his vehicle and approached the 111th Precinct headquarters at 45-06 215th St. in Bayside at around 6:40 p.m. on Feb. 18 and began talking to officers. During the conversation, he pointed a firearm at cops just outside the building.
“The officer gave verbal commands for the male to put down the firearm and radioed for assistance. Additional officers approached and gave additional verbal commands to drop the firearm, but he did not comply and continued to point it at our officer,” Chief Rivera said. “After the de-escalation techniques were unsuccessful, four officers discharged their firearms.”
Cops opened fire at the man, shooting him multiple times in the chest. They then performed CPR until an ambulance arrived on the scene. The senior was rushed to NewYork Presbyterian-Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The officers involved, while not injured, were also taken to an area hospital for evaluation. A loaded Cobra. 38 special firearm was recovered at the scene.
An array of shell casings could be seen on the street behind police tape.
Sources familiar with the suspect reported that he had just one prior arrest dating back to the early 1980s. Police are looking into the possibility he may have been a case of “suicide-by-cop.”
“It’s too early to determine that, but it is something we are looking into,” Chief Rivera said.
It was the second police-involved shooting at the 111th Precinct stationhouse in six years. Back in March 2019, cops shot a man who allegedly charged at them with a knife after crashing his car outside the headquarters, and then trying to set it on fire.
It was also the second police-involved shooting on Tuesday. A police detective was shot Tuesday morning while attempting to serve a search warrant on the Lower East Side by a repeat offender on parole. The gunman in this case was wounded.
Additional reporting by Czarinna Andres and Robert Pozarycki
