Officials: Stabbing Victim In Brooklyn Domestic Incident Died Of Accidental Police Gunshot
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Authorities on Wednesday said police unintentionally shot and killed a man who was originally believed to have died of stab wounds in a domestic incident earlier this week in Kensington, Brooklyn.
Police shot and killed another man who was holding a knife when they arrived at the scene on Ocean Parkway around 7:15 p.m. this past Monday.
Police rushed to an apartment in the Ocean Parkway building Brooklyn on a report of a man assaulting a woman with a knife, authorities said.
When officers arrived, they found Francisco Carvajal, 47, armed with a knife and Rafael Laureano, 51, inside the apartment, police said.
A woman – identified as Katarzyna Russo – and two children, ages 6 and 7, had also locked themselves in a bathroom as the suspect tried to get inside, police said. They said Laureano was the woman's current boyfriend, while Carvajal was her ex.
Police said Laureano confronted Carvajal, who was then shot by police after he refused orders to drop the knife. Carvajal man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police initially said Laureano died of stab wounds. But the New York City Medical Examiner's office determined that his death was actually caused by a perforating gunshot wound to the back.
Police sources told CBS 2 officers were firing at Carvajal while he struggled with Laureano, who had, in fact, been stabbed several times by Carvajal.
Sources said Laureano confronted Carvajal after the ex-boyfriend came to talk to Russo. Laureano already had been stabbed when he met police outside as they arrived at the seventh-floor apartment, and Laureano ran past officers back into the apartment when he got to the front door, police said.
Laureano and Carvajal struggled again, and Carvajal was stabbing Laureano again when officers opened fire, sources said.
Laureano was pronounced dead at Maimonides Medical Center.
Police said a 35-year-old woman and two children were not harmed. Officers were seen accompanying the two children out of the building, with the boy walking down a hallway with no clothes.
Police said two knives were recovered at the scene.
Police sources said the Laureano's death was accidental and he was not the intended target. The officers' shots were fired during the struggle between Laureano and Carvajal, in which officers were not involved, source said.
It was the second police-involved shooting in less than two hours.
Around 5:45 p.m. Monday, police said two officers on foot saw a man shooting a handgun on East 145th Street and College Avenue in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.
They said the 19-year-old suspect started running toward them, then pointed his gun at one cop. Police fired back, shooting the suspect in the elbow.
The suspect was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
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