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NYPD fatally shoots driver on Belt Parkway following suspected kidnapping
By
Michael Sol Warren
Published Nov 15, 2026 at 10:20 a.m. ET
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Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Michael Sol Warren
Published Nov 15, 2026 at 10:20 a.m. ET
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Police shot and killed a man in Brooklyn on Saturday night after responding to reports of a woman trapped and screaming for help from inside a van in Coney Island.
The driver of the van, who has not yet been identified, was shot on the Belt Parkway following a police chase. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.
The woman was able to flee the vehicle and was unharmed, police said.
“ She has confirmed that she was in the van and was screaming and exited the vehicle before the police officers first arrived,” Assistant Chief Charles Minch, the commander of the NYPD’s Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, said at a press conference.
The incident began at 7:20 p.m., when two people called 911 to report a possible kidnapping in Coney Island at West 22nd Street and Surf Avenue around 7:20 p.m., Minch said.
“ The male caller said that he saw a white van and further stated, ‘There's a girl kicking and screaming in there,’” Minch said. “The female caller stated that she heard the girl saying, ‘Let me go,’ multiple times.”
The callers, while on the phone with 911, saw two uniformed cops and told them about the van. Minch said when those officers approached the vehicle, it took off at high speed down the sidewalk.
The van entered the Belt Parkway, heading east, but was slowed by heavy traffic, Minch said. Officers approached the vehicle and ordered the driver out, and then broke the front passenger side window when he refused.
“The driver began to drive forwards and backwards, ramming both police and occupied civilian vehicles indiscriminately,” Minch said.
Minch said police then tried to use a taser and pepper spray against the driver, but neither was “effective, and the driver continued to ram nearby vehicles.”
Multiple officers then shot the driver, Minch said. It is unclear how many officers fired, or how many shots were fired.
The officers pulled the driver from the van and performed CPR while they waited for an ambulance, Minch said. The man was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, formerly Lutheran Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver had a known history of aggression towards the woman, Minch said.
“ The driver of the vehicle was wanted for an unlawful imprisonment last month and also a domestic assault earlier this month,” Minch said. “The victim in both cases was the female who had been in the white van.”
Investigations are ongoing into both the suspected kidnapping and the fatal police shooting. Minch said the shooting was recorded on police body cameras.
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Michael Sol Warren
Michael Sol Warren covers New Jersey for WNYC and Gothamist, and previously reported on issues around the Garden State for NJ Spotlight News and NJ Advance Media. He can be reached at [email protected].
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