Man Shot, Killed By Police After Allegedly Refusing To Drop Gun In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One man is dead after a police-involved shooting in the Soundview section of the Bronx overnight.
As CBS2's Magdalena Doris reported, three officers fired a total of 31 rounds in the incident, aiming at a suspect who police said would not drop his weapon.
Officers were dispatched around 1:50 a.m. for a ShotSpotter alert at 1725 Randall Ave., at Rosedale Avenue, in the Soundview Houses public housing development, police said.
Plainclothes and uniformed housing officers approached the suspect, identified as 25-year-old Rashaun Lloyd by friends and family, and told him to drop his weapon, police said.
Bronx Borough Cmdr. Larry Nikunen said Lloyd refused the orders, and instead approached officers with the gun pointed at them, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported.
The three officers opened fire, and the suspect was pronounced dead at 3:05 a.m. at Jacobi Medical Center, police said.
Police released a photo of the handgun Lloyd allegedly used which they described as a Hi-Point 9mm Luger.
Police said a series of 911 calls and surveillance video from the NYCHA complex will tell the story.
"The officers ordered him to drop the gun, which was verified by at least one 911 call," Nikunen said.
But Ravon Moorhead, a friend of the Lloyd, said the alleged gunman was the father and a good guy. Moorhead said he did not believe the suspect did what police alleged.
"No one's going to tell me – he didn't do that. He's too kindhearted. He didn't go there to hurt nobody. He ain't come out here to hurt nobody," Moorhead said. "I know he was coming to see his son today."
Friends were holding vigil near the scene of the shooting Sunday morning.
Police said the suspect had been arrested before on robbery charges. Neighbors told CBS2 he turned things around working a construction job. As family members and friends prepare a memorial for the 25-year-old, they turn their attention to his four-year-old son and the child's mother.
"She has to explain it to him today on Father's Day. He loved his dad, I bear witness to that," Moorhead said.
No one else was injured in the shooting. Four officers were taken to Montefiore Medical Center as a precaution but were later released, police said.