Police Fatally Shoot Man Who Attacked Officers with Knife on Brooklyn Bridge

New York police killed a suspect on the Brooklyn Bridge after he threatened officers with a knife and claimed to have a bomb during an early-morning standoff.

Police Fatally Shoot Man Who Attacked Officers with Knife on Brooklyn Bridge

New York police shot and killed a man on the Brooklyn Bridge early Friday after he threatened officers with a knife and claimed to be carrying a bomb, authorities said.

The incident began around 3:30 a.m. on September 4, when a report came in about a man walking on the bridge's support structure, according to Gerard Dowling, commander of the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit. Responding officers located the individual on the bridge cables and climbed up to secure him with harnesses attached to the bridge in order to bring him down safely, as reported by Index.hu.

During the roughly hour-long standoff, the man expressed a desire to die and told officers he wanted them to shoot him. He also claimed he was in possession of an explosive device. Patrol officers repeatedly ordered him to drop his knife and attempted to persuade him to descend voluntarily.

Eventually the man began climbing down the cable toward the officers, who were positioned in a single file on the same line. Dowling explained that this formation prevented them from retreating quickly as the suspect closed the distance.

Investigators said that when the man reached approximately one meter from the lead officer, he lunged forward with his arm outstretched and the blade in hand. At that point, one officer opened fire. The suspect was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials have not disclosed the man's identity as of Friday afternoon. When asked by journalists whether any bomb was recovered at the scene, the department did not respond. The shooting remains under investigation.

The fatal encounter occurred only days after another deadly police shooting in Times Square. On Monday afternoon, 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros attacked a 32-year-old new mother and a 68-year-old man without warning, fatally stabbing the younger woman and wounding the older man, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. When officers surrounded Cisneros and commanded her to drop the weapon, she refused and threatened to kill both officers. A taser failed to subdue her, and two officers fired their weapons, killing her at the scene.

Source: Index