PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (WABC) — NYPD officers shot and killed a man after authorities say he barricaded himself and two others inside of a hospital room while armed with a knife, police said in a press conference on Thursday.
Police responded to multiple calls around 5:30 p.m. reporting a violent man armed with a knife on the eight floor of NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope.
When officers arrived, the suspect, described as a man in his 60’s, locked himself inside of a hospital room with an elderly patient and a hospital security employee, Assistant Chief Charlie Minch said.
Staff told officers the suspect cut himself and threatened to harm others and threatened to kill staff members, officials said.
Officers said they saw blood on the walls and floor of the room.
Officials said the suspect appeared in the doorway holding a bloody weapon and refused repeated commands by officers for over 3 minutes to drop it.
Police said the suspect repeatedly attempted to forcefully shut the door while the two people remained trapped inside.
Officers attempted to intervene and when the suspect moved toward officers while holding the weapon, police deployed a taser, officials said.
The taser was not effective and the man continued to try and close the door.
Police spent several more minutes attempting to force the door open and continued giving verbal commands, Minch said.
The suspect advanced toward officers with the weapon again and officers used additional tasers, which did not work, to stop him, Minch said.
That’s when officers fired their weapons, striking the suspect, Minch said.
The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and police recovered the weapon inside of the hospital room.
The shooting left some patients shocked, and others scrambling for safety.
John Brown was getting dialysis on the seventh floor when he heard the shots.
“They were like, ‘go that way.’ So, I was like ‘ah!’ So, I started running for my life. I’m going that way, and then I just hear a bang,” Brown said.
“Very shocked you know, because usually they make sure everybody is secure there going in,” said patient Kimberly Ramos. “And they check everybody you know, so I’m just saying, I don’t know how that could even happen.”
The other patient who was barricaded in the room, a man in his 70’s, was not hurt.
The security guard is being evaluated for possible anxiety-related impact.
The incident was captured on officers’ body cameras, and the investigation into the shooting is being handled by the department’s Force Investigation Division.
Police said the suspect was admitted to the hospital at some point on Wednesday, but it is not known how he obtained the weapon or whether he had any relationship to the people who he held inside of the room.
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