NYPD cops shot and wounded a knife-wielding maniac with a “history of mental issues” after he lunged at them inside a Queens home Monday morning, authorities said.
Police were called to Parsons Boulevard near 85th Avenue in Briarwood around 10:25 a.m., where a relative said the 22-year-old man was “throwing glass against the wall,” Assistant Chief Christopher McIntosh, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Queens South, said at a press briefing.
The unidentified man then “retrieved a large kitchen knife and began to advance toward officers,” McIntosh said.
The 22-year-old knife-wielding suspect lunged at cops inside a home on Parsons Boulevard near 85th Avenue in Briarwood, cops said. Stephen Yang for the NY PostA family member tried to “restrain” the armed man — who has “a history of mental issues” — but was unable to stop him as he continued to move toward the officers, the chief said.
That’s when shots rang out.
“I heard, ‘Drop the knife, drop the knife’ a few times and then four shots,” a next-door neighbor told The Post. “Officers came barreling out of the house and it was over just like that.”
The whole thing lasted “like 10, 20 seconds,” he said.
“The ambulance came, and they took him out pretty fast,” said the neighbor, who declined to give his name. “He was moving, disoriented on his side on the stretcher.”
McIntosh said the officers “gave repeat warnings” before they were forced to open fire.
A family member tried to restrain the armed man, to no avail, cops said. Stephen Yang for the NY Post
The crazed man refused to drop the kitchen knife despite repeated commands, police said. Stephen Yang for the NY Post“The male ignored these repeat commands to drop the knife and continued to advance towards the officers, still armed with the knife, moving from the kitchen to the living room,” he said.
The officers even tried to close a glass door to contain the suspect in the kitchen, he said, but the maniac burst through it toward the cops in the living room — still clutching the knife.
“At this point, officers discharged their weapons at the armed male,” McIntosh told reporters.
The knife the suspect wielded during the late-morning ordeal was recovered at the scene. NYPDThe officers applied a tourniquet to the wounded man until EMS arrived and took over, police said.
He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition and undergoing surgery.
He has no previous arrests, but police responded to an “emotionally disturbed person” incident involving him just last month, according to law enforcement sources.
It was not immediately clear how many times the suspect was shot or by how many officers.
The entire interaction was captured on the officers’ body-worn camera footage, police said. Stephen Yang for the NY PostThe knife was recovered at the scene, cops said.
The tense ordeal was captured on the officers’ body-worn camera footage and is being probed by the department’s Force Investigation Division, police said. The officers were evaluated for tinnitus at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the neighbor told The Post that he believed the wounded man had “some problems.”
“I think he has some type of developmental delays, some type of emotional disturbances,” he said. “He’s an innocent guy, nice kid who is always walking his dog.”
Additional reporting by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
