A man was shot and critically wounded by an NYPD officer when he menaced cops with a 13-inch long knife after clashing with grocery workers in East Harlem early Monday, police said.
The wild chain of events began when the 53-year-old suspect got into an argument inside a grocery store on Third Ave. near E. 120th St. about 1:15 a.m., cops said.
”Following the dispute, the male suddenly became irate and disorderly and had to be physically removed from the store by multiple employees,” NYPD Inspector Andrew Natiw said at a press briefing near the store. “A short time later the subject returned to the store. When he returned he had a large kitchen knife in his hand and was banging on the exterior glass of the window with the knife.”
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
A man was shot wounded by an NYPD officer when he menaced cops with a knife at a grocery store on Third Ave. near E. 120th St. early Monday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Workers locked the door and called 911 at 1:36 a.m. and when two officers from the 25th Precinct showed up and got out of their patrol car “they were immediately confronted by the subject, who had a knife in his hand that was extended out towards the officers,” Natiw said.
“The officers gave multiple verbal commands to drop the knife and attempted to create physical distance between himself and the subject,” Natiw added. “But the subject quickly advanced towards the officers with the knife extended out.”
When the suspect “got in close proximity to the officers” one of them fired, Natiw said, striking the suspect.
It wasn’t clear how many shots were fired or where the suspect was hit. The NYPD released a photo of the suspect’s knife they recovered.
The suspect was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he underwent surgery and is in critical but stable condition.
The officer who fired and the officer’s partner were taken to a hospital for observation but were not hurt.
Natiw said it wasn’t yet clear if the suspect has mental health issues or what the argument was about.
The shooting follows a Thursday morning Bronx incident in which an armed ex-con sex offender, Lucian Colon, 44, was shot dead by an NYPD cop as police tried to arrest him in an apartment, police said.
“I have a gun — it ain’t gonna happen.” Colon said, according to police.
He refused to put down his weapon and was shot after about 90 seconds, during which police tried to get him to surrender, police said.
Colon served prison time for rape and was being sought on a warrant for failing to meet his sex offender registry requirements.
Both shootings were captured on police body-worn cameras and are being reviewed by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division.