Police officers in Brooklyn shot and killed a man in apparent mental health distress who began cutting himself at a hospital on Thursday evening and took a staff member hostage.
The incident unfolded on the 8th floor of NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, located at 506 6th St. in Park Slope, within the confines of the 78th Precinct, just before 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 8.
Police said that hospital security staff observed the disturbed man cutting his body with some kind of sharp instrument before barricading himself inside a room with an elderly patient and the staff member. The security detail requested backup from police, who quickly came on scene.
“They were met by a group of doctors, nurses and hospital security, who said there was a man barricaded with a knife. When they got to the room, they saw blood all over the walls floor and splattered across the exterior of the door, “NYPD Assistant Chief Charlie Minch said. “The subject came into the door frame and displayed the bloody weapon.”
Minch stated that for the next several minutes, responding officers attempted to convince the man to drop the weapon, but he refused and attempted to close the door multiple times before walking toward the cops.
“They simultaneously deployed a taser and discharged a firearm. The Taser was ineffective, and the subject then continued to try to close the door with the two individuals still inside. For the next four minutes, officers again tried to kick the door open and issued many verbal commands to the subject to drop the weapon,” Minch said. “The subject then advanced towards the officers again, still with the weapon in his hand.”
Authorities say cops once more used their taser, but it again did not subdue the suspect. It was at this point that the cops finally opened fire, striking him in the torso. The unnamed 62-year-old perpetrator was treated at the hospital before ultimately being pronounced dead. No other people were harmed. The officers were treated for ringing in their ears as a result of the shooting.
Sources familiar with the investigation report that the man’s weapon was a piece of a toilet he had sharpened and fashioned into a makeshift weapon. The man himself had been admitted to the hospital the day before, although the nature of his ailment is unclear.
The hospital briefly went on lockdown as police responded to the incident, witnesses told amNewYork.
Danita Pemberton said she was visiting her father at the hospital and walked into the emergency room, and instantly saw police start running deeper into the hospital. She made her way up the stairs to see her father, but the staff told her that she had to shelter in place.
“They barricaded us inside the unit. I felt trapped. They barricaded the door with the machines. And they turned off the lights; they didn’t want anyone to know we were there,” Pemberton said, explaining that at that time the nature of the emergency was not clear.
The shooting is being investigated by the NYPD Force Investigation Division.
