The New York attorney general has opened an investigation into the death of a 78-year-old man who was shot by police this week after officers responded to 911 calls for a burglary at his apartment.
NYPD: Police Officers Fatally Shoot Senior Citizen Who Aimed Gun At Them In Brooklyn Building (Photo by: CNN)
Old Man Who Was Shot By Police
A 78-year-old Brooklyn man who answered a door knock with a gun in his hand was fatally shot Thursday by two NYPD officers — the first of three police-involved shootings in the city within a period of fewer than 12 hours across three boroughs. Uniformed cops encountered the unidentified senior citizen after arriving at his second-floor apartment in answer to a reported burglary in progress at 1:07 p.m., said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
Our officers were put in a life-or-death situation, investigating a crime in progress. We will learn more and hopefully find better answers. Police were investigating whether a robbery had occurred, with the investigation continuing, he added, and it was unclear if the victim’s handgun was licensed. The man was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where he died at 1:55 p.m., said cops. The chief said the officers involved in the shooting performed CPR on the victim.
About an hour later, violence erupted outside a Presbyterian church in Queens when a knife-wielding man stabbed a security guard and was shot by responding police officers when he lunged at them.
After the man dropped to the ground outside First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, he clung to the knife, refusing to drop it. According to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, a responding NYPD supervisor then Tased the assailant, which subdued him. The assailant and the security guard were taken to area hospitals. Both were in stable condition Thursday evening, police said. In the third police-involved shooting of Thursday, cops shot and wounded a man armed with a gun inside a Bronx subway station.
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