Officers shoot man with large knife, police say
NYPD says officers fatally shot a man who had a 14-inch knife on April 14 in Astoria
By Christina Fan
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QUEENS, New York (WCBS) — The New York City Police Department says officers fatally shot a man who had a 14-inch knife early Monday in Astoria, Queens.
Police said they received three 911 calls around 6:20 a.m. about a man with a knife acting erratically on 34th Street between 30th and 31st avenues.
“Uniformed members of the 114th quickly responded within minutes and confronted a person in the street holding a large knife,” NYPD Chief of Department John Chell told reporters later in the morning.
Chell said the officers spoke with the man for nearly a minute and deployed multiple Tasers before shots were fired.
“At this point, the man advanced himself on one of the officers, they were forced to defend themselves,” he said.
The man was treated on the scene before being taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Man had previous mental health incidents, Chell says
Chell said the 61-year-old had “two documented incidents of mental disorder” with the police department.
“Any time the NYPD interacts with anyone in distress, we attempt to slow down and deescalate the situation, with the ultimate goal of getting them the help they need. However, during fast-moving and hectic situations with an armed person, we are forced to defend ourselves,” Chell said in his opening remarks.
He said the situation was captured on the officers’ body-worn cameras and on a nearby surveillance camera.
The scene is located underneath the elevated subway lines in the area, but service was not impacted.
A pool of blood was left on the sidewalk, and there were more than a dozen cups marking where shell casings may have fallen. Detectives could be seen taking photographs and canvassing for video, while the Crime Scene Unit bagged evidence.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. You can also submit a tip via their website.
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