Hourlong effort on Brooklyn Bridge ends in deadly police shooting
According to the NYPD, the man came within about 3 feet of the closest officer and raised the knife toward him. An officer standing on the bridge’s roadway fired once, hitting the man.
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The Brooklyn Bridge is back to its usual rhythm — cars crossing, tourists taking pictures and people stopping to enjoy the view.
But early Friday morning, the landmark became the scene of an hourlong attempt to help a man down from its cables. It ended with an officer shooting and killing him.
A 911 caller reported seeing a man walking on the bridge’s beams around 3:28 a.m., according to the NYPD. Officers from the 84th Precinct and a team trained for high-angle rescues responded.
Police said the officers climbed onto the cables, secured themselves with safety harnesses and tried to talk the man down.
“They observed he had a knife, and he stated to them, ‘I want to die. I have a bomb. You’re going to make me do something bad to the cops,’” an NYPD commander said during a news conference.
The officers spent nearly an hour asking the man to drop the knife and come down safely, police said.
The situation changed when the man began moving down the cable toward them. Because the officers were clipped to the bridge, police said they could not quickly back away.
According to the NYPD, the man came within about 3 feet of the closest officer and raised the knife toward him. An officer standing on the bridge’s roadway fired once, hitting the man.
Officers brought him down and gave him first aid. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A knife and flashlight were recovered. Police have not said that a bomb was found.
The encounter comes four days after a woman armed with two knives stabbed two people in Times Square. One of those victims died. Police shot and killed the woman after they said attempts to stop her with stun guns did not work and she moved toward officers.
For Elorm Gbordzoe of Downtown Brooklyn, both cases raise difficult questions about how the city handles people who may be in crisis.
“It’s like super sad and super tragic,” Gbordzoe said. “I wish there was more things that could help the people with mental illness actually get the help they need. But I also wish there was something that we could use that wouldn’t lead to people dying or getting shot.”
The NYPD said the entire Brooklyn Bridge encounter was captured on officers’ body cameras. The department’s team that reviews police uses of force is investigating the shooting.
