NYPD: Man Armed With Machete Dead After Being Shot By Police In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A suspect armed with a machete was shot and killed by police who were executing a search warrant early Tuesday morning in the Bronx, the NYPD said.
It happened just after 4 a.m. in a third floor apartment on Brook Avenue near East 138th Street in Mott Haven.
Speaking at an early morning news conference, NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan said a group of Emergency Service Division officers were executing a search warrant after getting reports of handguns and drugs inside the apartment.
"Upon entering the apartment, two members of the team went to a rear bedroom where they were confronted by a male brandishing a machete-type sword with a two-foot blade," Monahan said. "The uniformed officers ordered the subject to drop the weapon and he refused to comply. As the subject continued to approach the lead officer, the officer discharged one shot from his service firearm, striking the subject once in the chest."
Monahan said the officers immediately called for an ambulance and rendered aid to the man, who has not yet been identified. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Another elderly man who was in the apartment was not hurt, but was taken to the hospital for observation. Police told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck that man will not be charged.
Monahan said the weapon was recovered at the scene, adding that the man who was shot was "not the person we were looking for in that search warrant."
The man police were looking for was taken into custody when he showed up at the apartment, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
"We have a person that we detained outside," Monahan said. "He was brought back to the 40 for questioning. This was the person that we had information on that he was supposed to be in the apartment."
Sources tell CBS2 all three men involved appear to live together.
Neighbors said they saw the scene unfold.
"I just saw the police come, raided that building, I heard a couple of shots," one man told CBS2s Reena Roy. "Ambulance came, brought somebody out."
"Dangerous, very dangerous," another man said. "When I saw the shots, I running."
Monahan said none of the officers were wearing body cameras.
"Emergency Services isn't outfitted with body cameras at this point," he said.
No officers were hurt.
Investigators are now gathering evidence at the scene before they'll be able to search for the alleged drugs and weapons they were originally looking for.
