Man fatally shot by NYPD on Brooklyn Bridge after knife standoff

A man clinging to the Brooklyn Bridge cables was shot dead by NYPD officers after brandishing a knife and claiming to have a bomb.

NYPD shoots man armed with knife during Brooklyn Bridge standoff

A man was fatally shot by New York City police officers early Friday morning after a roughly hour-long standoff on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge, people.com reports. The man, whose identity has not been released, had allegedly told officers he was carrying a bomb and wanted to die.

Emergency services received a 911 call at approximately 3:28 a.m. reporting a man walking on the bridge beams. Officers from the NYPD's Emergency Services Unit located him on the cables and climbed up to reach him. Gerard Dowling, commanding officer of the ESU, told reporters the officers ascended the cables "to establish verbal dialogue with the male and safely remove him from the bridge." For high-angle operations of this kind, Dowling explained, ESU officers are secured to the bridge structure via a harness.

During the standoff, the man allegedly told officers: "I want to die. I want you to kill me. I have a bomb. You are not going to make me do something bad to the cops." Officers repeatedly commanded him to drop the knife and urged him to descend safely.

When the man eventually complied and began moving down the cable toward the officers, the geometry of the situation created a problem. Because the officers were positioned one after the other along the same cable, Dowling said, it was difficult for them to move away "as fast as" the man was approaching. When the man came within roughly three feet of the officer at the front of the line, he allegedly "raised his arm with the knife extended outward towards the officer." An officer then fired, striking him.

The man was transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A knife and a flashlight were recovered from the scene. When asked by a reporter whether a bomb had been located, police did not provide a response. The investigation remains ongoing.

The shooting occurred days after officers fatally shot a woman in Times Square following a series of stabbings. Pamela Cisneros, 49, killed Erin Piacenti and injured a 68-year-old man in what Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described as an "unprovoked" attack on Monday afternoon. When officers surrounded Cisneros and ordered her to drop the knife, she allegedly responded: "I'm not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you." After she moved toward officers waving the knives and taser deployments proved ineffective, two officers shot and killed her at the scene.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)