Police: Knife-Wielding Man Shot By Officers In Hamilton Heights; Had Already Stabbed Himself
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police said officers shot and wounded a man who had earlier stabbed himself in Hamilton Heights late Sunday.
Officers were called to 610 W. 143rd St. just before 5:30 p.m. for an emotionally disturbed person who had attempted suicide, police told CBS2's Ali Bauman.
The man himself was the one who called 911 and he was threatening suicide over the phone, according to NYPD Assistant Chief Rodney Harrison.
Officers went up to the sixth floor and knocked on the man's door, and he opened the door with two knives, Harrison said.
"The officers told the man to drop the knife and retreated into the hallway as the male, again armed with the two knives, advanced toward the officers," Harrison said.
CBS2 is told the man did not say anything, but rather charged through a narrow hallway straight toward the officers.
One officer fired a round and struck the man in the left leg, police said.
Police released a photo of the knives the man allegedly had.
One of the officers in the two-officer crisis intervention team that responded had a Taser, but the incident happened in a narrow hallway and unfolded right as the officers got off the elevator, police said.
Harrison said one of the officers involved had a bodycam on.
The man who was shot by the officer was 27 years old, police said. He has not been identified.
Cellphone video showed a man being carried down the stairs of the building on a stretcher by paramedics.
But most tenants were unaware that police had opened fire in their building until hours afterward. Trevor Wells lives on the floor below the encounter.
"It's definitely surprising in our building, but that can happen anywhere," Wells said.
The man who was shot by police was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital in serious condition, but was expected to survive, sources said.
Harrison said it remained under investigation whether the man was trying to commit "suicide by cop."
The officers were also hospitalized for observation, but were not injured, police said.
