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Police Shooting Of Man Allegedly Brandishing Knife & Toy Gun Is Captured On Officers' Bodycams
By
Scott Heins
Published Sep 7, 2017
Modified Sep 7, 2017
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By
Scott Heins
Published Sep 7, 2017
Modified Sep 7, 2017
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An unidentified Bronx man was fatally shot by NYPD officers Wednesday afternoon after police say a landlord called asking the city to check on the man's condition. The incident, which is currently under an internal investigation, occurred at roughly 4 p.m. at 3700 Pratt Avenue in Wakefield. According to multiple reports, the deadly shooting was caught on video by officers' bodycameras—the first such occurrence since the NYPD began rolling out the cameras as part of a pilot program earlier this year.
Police were called to check on a 31-year-old man who hadn't been seen or heard from in some time, NYPD Chief of Department Carlos Gomez said at a press conference Wednesday night. According to Gomez, when officers arrived, they found the man holding a knife with his other arm behind his back. At that time, law enforcement officers reportedly told the man to drop the knife, with no success.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” one officer told the man during the face off, according to Gomez's account.
When the man brought his other hand forward, he was found to be holding a gun, Gomez said. One officer fired a Taser at the man, and two backup officers opened fire, killing him. After the shooting, NYPD officers discovered the gun he had been holding was a toy. According to the Times, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“It wasn’t familiar in this area,” Wakefield resident Terrell Williams told CBS after the shooting. "This is a really nice neighborhood, you wouldn’t expect it but there were gunshots.”
During the press conference, Gomez told reporters that four officers had been in the man's apartment during the confrontation, and that all four had been wearing activated body cameras that captured the incident. By the end of 2017, 1,200 officers in 20 precincts throughout the city will be wearing body cameras, the Times notes. According to Gomez, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill reviewed the body camera footage Wednesday and will ultimately decide whether to make the video footage available to the public.
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Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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