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Police: NYPD officer shot supportive housing resident with history of mental illness holding scissors
By
Samantha Max
Published Apr 21, 2023
Modified Apr 21, 2023
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Tim Drivas Photography / Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
Published Apr 21, 2023
Modified Apr 21, 2023
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A resident of a Bronx supportive housing facility for people with mental illness is in critical condition after police shot him while he was holding scissors and a knife, the NYPD said at a press conference Friday morning.
Chief of Patrol John Chell said a case worker called 911 at about 8:40 a.m. Friday and said a man was in “mental distress” and was holding a “large pair of scissors.” When officers arrived, he said, the man started running toward them with the scissors. He said the man, 39, then switched his focus to a man smoking a cigarette outside the building.
Chell said officers tried to distract the man and ordered him to put down the scissors. But he said the man started sprinting toward one of the responding officers, who fired three times.
During a brief press conference, which lasted less than four minutes, Chell did not say whether officers tried to de-escalate the situation or whether any officers deployed their Tasers before pulling their guns. Chell also said the incident was captured on body camera footage but did not say if or when that footage would be shared with the public. He said officers also recovered a kitchen knife.
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division will review the incident. The Bronx district attorney’s office did not immediately say whether it would launch a criminal investigation.
Police have not named the man who was shot but said he had a documented mental health condition and was known by the department. Chell also said he was a resident of an assisted living facility where the shooting took place, about a mile from Yankee Stadium.
The building, which is operated by the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, says on its website that it serves adults with a history of mental illness, as well as their families. The organization confirmed to Gothamist that it owns the building but said it couldn’t provide further information.
Latest in a string of shootings by police
This is the fifth time NYPD officers have fired their weapons in just over a week. Last Thursday, police fatally shot a 78-year-old man in Brooklyn and injured two others during shootings in Queens and the Bronx. An officer also fired at a man holding a gun in Staten Island on Sunday, though no one was hit in that case. Last month, police shot a man with schizophrenia after his father called 311.
The shooting also comes just days before two NYPD officers are scheduled to face an administrative trial on Monday for a deadly encounter four years ago with Kawaski Trawick, another supportive housing resident who was in the midst of a mental health crisis when police shot him.
In April, 2019, police responded to Hill House, also in the Bronx, after receiving complaints that Trawick was harassing neighbors and staff and “losing his mind,” according to an investigation conducted by the Bronx DA’s office. Trawick was holding a kitchen knife when officers knocked on his door. One of the officers shot him less than two minutes after they arrived.
The NYPD Patrol Guide instructs officers that they can use force if an “emotionally disturbed person” — the term the department uses for someone in the midst of a mental health crisis — could imminently cause serious harm or death.
“Members of the service will use only the reasonable force necessary to gain control or custody of a subject,” the guide states in a chapter on mental illness. “When there is time to negotiate, all the time necessary to ensure the safety of all individuals will be used.”
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates claims of police misconduct, has found that both responding officers in the Trawick encounter violated department policy and is seeking their termination at next week’s trial. The Bronx DA’s office declined to bring criminal charges, but prosecutors recommended better training for police and more staff at supportive housing facilities.
Four years after Trawick’s death, some advocates for supportive housing residents say they’re still hesitant to call the police when someone is in the midst of a mental health emergency.
“NYPD's presence alone often causes situations to escalate,” said Kat Corbell, a supportive housing tenant and member of SHOUT, an advocacy group. “SHOUT calls on supportive housing providers to use safer and better options to de-escalate crises.”
Researchers have found that supportive housing can reduce people’s interactions with police. But experts say the model is most successful when it’s properly funded and staffed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul made supportive housing a centerpiece of her $900 million plan to increase housing for New Yorkers with mental illness, which she unveiled in January. But mental health experts warned at the time that such a proposal would only succeed if the state increased its staffing capacity.
This story has been updated.
Tagged
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police shooting
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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