Emotionally disturbed man with scissors shot by police after lunging at officers
MELROSE, Bronx (WABC) -- Police say a man in mental distress with a pair of large scissors was shot by officers in the Bronx after he lunged at them.
Officers responded to a call in front of an assisted living facility on Washington Avenue in the Melrose section of the Bronx shortly after 9 a.m. and found an emotionally disturbed man with scissors and a large knife in his hands.
Police say the man turned his attention to a bystander smoking a cigarette and officers attempted to distract him while ordering him to drop the scissors.
A neighbor heard the commotion from his apartment upstairs and immediately started recording.
"I was sitting on my windowsill with my dog, and I see this young man come around the corner and the police yelling at him drop the scissors, drop it," witness D. Barry Buddy Bolton. "He had a bladed weapon."
That's when officials say the man, "in a full-fledged sprint," rushed at the officers who fired three shots, hitting him twice.
The 39-year-old man, who police say has a history of mental illness, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He is expected to survive. Four officers were taken to the hospital to get checked out, with at least one treated for tinnitus.
Chief of Patrol John Chell said the situation "was fast, volatile and dangerous," and credited the officers' quick response with saving the life of an innocent man.
The scissors and large knife were recovered at the scene.
Authorities say the shot man has three prior mental health interactions with police, one last year in the Bronx, one in Brooklyn in 2017 and another in Brooklyn in 2015.
They say the he also has four prior arrests, one for resisting arrest last year, assault in 2022, fare beating in 2003 and one for criminal trepass.
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