A man armed with a knife and a wooden stick was shot and killed by police in the Bronx Sunday night, the NYPD said.
Police were called to the Hill House on Grand Avenue, between Macombs Road and West 174th Street, in Morris Heights, shortly before 11 p.m., about a man harassing people and banging on doors, cops said.
Two uniformed officers arrived and were taken up to the fourth floor by the superintendent of the building, Chief of Detectives Terence Monahan said. When the officers knocked on the door of the 32-year-old suspect, it opened, and the man was inside holding a large knife in one hand and what appeared to be a broom handle wrapped in black tape in the other hand, Monahan said.
The man came at the officers, and one of them fired a Taser at him, police said. The suspect, who was not immediately identified, fell to the ground, but when the charge of the taser stopped, he suddenly jumped back up, Monahan said.
He grabbed the knife and broom handle, screamed and charged at the officers, the chief said. The same officer who deployed the taser fired four shots at the man, striking him in the chest, he said.
The suspect was pronounced dead at Bronx Lebanon Hospital. Neither officer was injured.
The suspect had called the FDNY prior to the 911 calls, claiming there was a fire in his apartment, but there was no fire when firefighters got into the apartment. It appeared the suspect just wanted to get back into his apartment, Monahan said.
The man has a history of harassing people in the building, which provides "services to the underserved," including people suffering from substance abuse, homelessness and mental illness, Monahan said.
He was arrested at the building in January for allegedly breaking a window.
The officer who shot the suspect was wearing a body camera, but the other was not. Why the second officer wasn’t wearing a body camera was under investigation.
