Man shot dead by police on Brooklyn Bridge after threatening officers with knife

A knife-wielding man who climbed the cables of New York's Brooklyn Bridge was fatally shot by police after closing in on officers. The incident came four days after a fatal stabbing in Times Square.

Fatal police shooting on Brooklyn Bridge after knife standoff

A man who climbed onto the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge was shot and killed by New York City police officers Friday after he advanced toward them with a knife, authorities announced at a news conference. Global News Crime reports the man had refused repeated commands to drop the weapon during a standoff that lasted roughly an hour.

Gerard Dowling, commanding officer of the city's Emergency Services Unit, said officers from his unit had secured themselves to the bridge with safety harnesses before attempting to talk the man down. Throughout the encounter, the officers told him they wanted to help him reach safety and urged him to surrender the knife.

The man had told the police rescue team he wanted them to kill him and that he was carrying a bomb, Dowling said. When asked whether a bomb had been found, Dowling said the matter remained part of the ongoing investigation. Police did recover a knife and a flashlight at the scene.

At a critical moment, the man began descending a cable rapidly, moving toward the officers positioned below him on the same cable.

"The officers began to move backwards away from the male, but they were not able to move as quickly as the subject, who was approaching them," Dowling said.

When the man came within 3 feet (0.9 metres) of one officer, he raised his arm with the knife extended toward him. An officer stationed on the bridge's roadbed then fired a single shot, Dowling said. Officers immediately brought the man down and began rendering aid. He was transported to hospital, where he died. His name was not released.

The entire encounter was captured on police body cameras, Dowling confirmed.

Dowling described the Emergency Services Unit as specialists in high-risk situations, saying members "receive extensive instruction on de-escalation and how to engage with individuals compassionately."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the sequence of events in an online statement, saying police had first responded to a 911 call about a man who appeared to be attempting to jump from the bridge.

"The man was holding a knife and threatened the officers. He eventually moved toward the officers, coming within close proximity to a number of responding officers. One responding officer discharged his weapon and struck the man," Mamdani said.

The shooting closed the Brooklyn Bridge for part of Friday morning, creating significant traffic disruption. The bridge, which opened in 1883 and connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, has tower heights of 276.5 feet (84 metres) above the water. It was not disclosed how high up the man and officers were when the confrontation occurred.

The incident comes four days after a separate knife attack in Times Square, just outside One Times Square — the building that hosts the city's annual New Year's Eve ball drop — in one of the most heavily policed and visited areas of New York.

In that Monday attack, a 49-year-old woman from Queens, identified by police as Pamela Cisneros, pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man in the abdomen as he waited to cross the street after leaving the subway with his wife, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Seconds later, Cisneros stabbed a 32-year-old woman in the abdomen; that victim later died.

Officers attempted to persuade Cisneros to surrender the knives for several minutes before deploying a Taser, Tisch said. Cisneros told officers: "I'm not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you." Video footage shows the Taser failing to stop her as she moved toward officers with the knives raised. Two officers then opened fire, according to police.

In July, the NYPD's Emergency Services Unit had posted a video to social media documenting the successful rescue of a woman in distress who had climbed onto the Brooklyn Bridge. The unit specialises in high-angle rescue, scuba operations and emergency psychological technician training, Dowling noted at the time.

Source: Global News Crime