Barricaded suspect shot, killed by police serving warrant in Lower Manhattan
NEW YORK -- Police shot and killed a man who barricaded himself inside an apartment and fired at officers Thursday in Lower Manhattan.
Police have identified the man as 43-year-old Kent Edwards and say he had 11 prior arrests for rape and strangulation, and just two months ago, he was accused in a shooting on the Upper East Side.
The standoff started just before noon when NYPD officers went to the building on Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side to question Edwards for the October shooting.
When officers arrived, two women in a second-floor apartment told them Edwards was in the bathroom and armed.
Officers immediately drew their guns and ballistic shields, then began a dialogue with Edwards to get him to surrender.
"I saw the cops come," witness Diana Aldahondo said. "I seen a man screaming out the window with a gun ... When we heard gun, everybody ran."
Officers with the NYPD Emergency Service Unit used a small drone to reach the suspect, but he knocked it out of the air with a broom and broke it, police said.
Police say they also tried to use a small camera called a "scout" that is able to roll inside, but they say Edwards threw a blanket over it, blocking all video capabilities.
"They tried to use a lot of the technology, but it wasn't really helping them out the way they needed it, and he actually rendered some of the technology useless. He threw something on top of the scout, which immobilized it," said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
Officers also used a robot with a camera known as an avatar.
"The officers used the avatar. They followed behind the avatar. They had their bunkers up, our shields, and as they went in, the male exited the bathroom and fired what we believe four shots," Maddrey said.
Police say about two hours after they started talking to him, Edwards came out of the apartment and fired his 9-mm gun four times, striking the officers' shields and one officer in his tactical vest.
Officers fired back and shot Edwards a number of times.
"The lead officer who fired who also took the bunker, the shield, and was able to use it to knock the male down, pin him down while other members were able to put him in handcuffs," Maddrey said.
"It sounded like fireworks, four fireworks," a neighbor said. "Whole bunch of the police officers were around and they said we have something going on, we're gonna make sure you're safe, so go back in. Sure enough, I went back in."
"I saw when they were trying to resuscitate him, then they took him away," Aldahondo said.
Edwards died from his injuries at Bellevue Hospital.
Police say the officer who was struck in the vest was sent to the hospital, along with the ESU officers involved. They're all expected to be OK.
"We have three bullets into the bunkers, three bullets inside of bunkers, which could have easily been three bullets inside of officers," Maddrey said.
Eldridge Street reopened, but police remained on the scene.