Police shot and killed a man during a confrontation in the West Village on Thursday night after NYPD officials said he pointed a gun at officers that turned out to be fake. It was the city’s second fatal NYPD shooting Thursday.
The West Village incident unfolded around 10:50 p.m. near Bedford Street and Sixth Avenue after two people told police in the area they’d been in a car crash with a BMW that then drove off, according to Assistant Chief James McCarthy, commanding officer of the Manhattan South patrol borough.
The BMW was stopped in traffic nearby, and the officers approached the car, McCarthy said. At that point, he said, a 37-year-old man inside the vehicle stepped out and pointed what appeared to be a gun at the officers.
McCarthy said the officers fired at the man, but he held onto the fake weapon even as the officers commanded him to drop it so that they could render him lifesaving aid.
EMS workers came to the scene and took the man to a local hospital, where McCarthy said he was pronounced dead. Officials did not immediately identify him to the public.
McCarthy said the man said nothing to the officers during the incident. The assistant chief added that the whole encounter was captured on the officers’ body-worn cameras.
Hours earlier on Thursday, NYPD officers fatally shot a man at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope after they said he barricaded himself in a room with a sharp object and was attempting to harm an elderly patient and one of the hospital’s security staff. Officials said the man, who had cut himself and threatened other staff, advanced toward the officers with his bloodied weapon after they repeatedly ordered him to drop it and used their tasers, which were ineffective. Authorities did not immediately release the man’s identity.
The NYPD’s force investigation division is reviewing both police shootings, officials said.
This is a developing story based on preliminary information from police and may be updated.
