New York City – Police say a man went on a stabbing rampage in a Queens home Sunday morning, killing four people, including two kids, before attacking two responding police officers. The suspect was shot and killed by one of the officers.
ABC 7 reports that at approximately 5 a.m., officers received a 911 call about an assault in progress at a home on Beach 22nd Street in Far Rockaway. “A young female caller stated that her cousin is killing her family members,” NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news conference describing the horrifying chain of events.
Officers on patrol responded to the location and approached a man they say was leaving the driveway of the residence with luggage.
Police say the man, Courtney Gordon, 38, encountered responding officers in the street and slashed two of them with a kitchen knife, before officers fatally shot him.
Officers say the man set fire to a couch in the living room, which made it difficult for them to enter the home until FDNY arrived.
Once the fire was extinguished, they entered the home and discovered three people dead with fatal stab wounds, including a 12-year-old boy, 44-year-old woman, and a 30-year-old man.
A 61-year-old woman, who suffered multiple stab wounds, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in critical condition.
The two NYPD officers slashed were taken to Jamaica Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
