NYPD says they had no choice but to shoot in 3 separate NYC confrontations
KINGSBRIDGE, The Bronx (WABC) -- The NYPD is in its first full day of investigations into three separate police shootings in New York City on Thursday.
Police say they had no choice but to shoot in the three incidents, and officials say the confrontations in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx share a key detail.
Police said in press conferences after all three shootings that officers gave commands to drop the weapons but the suspects did not comply.
The most recent shooting happened in the Bronx between the 238th and 231st Street 1 train stations.
A man pointed a gun at police on the catwalk and officers shot him in the left hand.
The gun turned out to be an airsoft pistol, or BB gun.
In Jamaica, Queens, police say a man with a history of mental illness stabbed a church security guard on 164th Street before approaching officers with the same knife.
The suspect then waved the knife at the officers who commanded the suspect to drop the knife.
When he didn't comply the officers fired their guns hitting the suspect twice, who still didn't drop the weapon until an arriving supervisor used a taser.
In that case, Richard Moncrieffe, 59, is charged with assault, menacing a police officer, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.
And on Lewis Avenue and Hancock Street in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, two officers shot a 78-year-old man numerous times.
The man did not survive. It is believed the initial 911 call in that shooting came from the man's nephew who was concerned someone may have broken in.
"I spoke to the officers last night," NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said. "They were very upset and they were rattled that they were put in that kind of situation, a life and death situation."
The 78-year-old man also had no prior interaction with police, and also had a history of mental illness.
"Response to an emotionally disturbed person is the most dangerous thing you could do because of their volatility, their inability to process information certainly by commands of officers," former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
The NYPD is now conducting use of force investigations.
"And we'll learn more about what exactly happened and hopefully we'll have some better answers," said Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey.
In 2021 the NYPD had 6.4 million calls for service, including 71,969 weapons calls and made 4,363 gun arrests. They shot 21 people and killed six that year.
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