Cops shot and killed an armed man in Brooklyn during the early hours of Sunday as he attempted to evade capture, and may have accidentally injured a bystander in the process, authorities said.
According to NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, two police officers and a sergeant from the 67th Precinct were patrolling East Flatbush in a marked police vehicle at around 1:18 a.m. on May 12 when they came upon two men involved in a dispute on 52nd Street and Church Avenue.
Maddrey explained that one of the combatants, a 32-year-old man, allegedly pointed a firearm at the other man — prompting the officers on patrol to intervene.
The sergeant yelled “Gun!” as the responding cops called out for the 32-year-old man to drop the weapon. However, police say he did not heed the calls and attempted to flee.
“The officers exit the vehicle. They approached the men, as they approached, the male with the gun started to run eastbound on Church Avenue,” Chief Maddrey said.
Law enforcement sources said things came to a head near a deli at 5211 Church Ave., when the gunman began to run into the street from the sidewalk.
“One of the officers discharged their taser, the taser momentarily stunned the male. The male got back up and he still had the gun in his hand,” Chief Maddrey continued. “He runs back on the sidewalk and runs back towards 52nd Street. The officers give further commands for the male to drop the gun and they fire their weapons.”
Police fired at least 15 rounds, according to reports, with at least one shot causing the man to collapse. The NYPD did not say how many times the man had been shot.
The responding officers reportedly attempted to perform CPR before EMS arrived; paramedics rushed the wounded man to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Ninety minutes after the deadly police shooting, authorities learned that another individual had walked into a nearby hospital with a graze wound. The NYPD did not provide details on where on the body the man had been hit. Authorities are now investigating as to whether he had been hit by one of the shots police fired.
The case has been presented to the NYPD Force Investigation Division, which examines all police shootings and other uses of force.
