Man Shot Dead on Brooklyn Bridge After Lunging at NYPD Officers with Knife

A disturbed man was shot and killed on the Brooklyn Bridge Friday after charging at officers with a knife during an hour-long standoff. The incident closed Brooklyn-bound lanes for hours.

Fatal Standoff on Brooklyn Bridge After Man Threatens Officers with Knife

A man was shot and killed by NYPD officers on the Brooklyn Bridge early Friday after lunging at them with a knife, following an hour-long standoff in which he claimed to have a bomb, NY Post Metro reports.

Officers first spotted the man walking along the bridge cables around 3:30 a.m. Members of the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit (ESU) scaled the bridge in an attempt to talk him down.

"He stated, 'I want to die, I want you to kill me, I have a bomb, you're going to make me do something bad to the cops,'" ESU Chief Gerard V. Dowling told reporters.

Despite repeated commands to come down and drop the weapon, the man refused to comply for approximately one hour, Dowling said.

Then, hundreds of feet above the East River, the man rapidly descended the cable toward a line of ESU officers who were harnessed single-file to the bridge structure. When he closed to within three feet of the nearest officer, he lunged with the knife.

"At that point, a member of ESU who was on the roadbed of the bridge discharged his weapon one time, striking the man," Dowling said.

Officers brought him down from the bridge and transported him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died from his injuries. Police recovered a knife and a flashlight at the scene.

"Members of ESU are specially trained for these types of high-risk and incredibly dangerous situations," Dowling added.

The standoff significantly disrupted the morning commute. All Brooklyn-bound lanes were shut down from approximately 4:15 a.m. and did not reopen until around 8:30 a.m., according to officials.

Source: NY Post Metro