NEW YORK – A 44-second video captured the moment plainclothes NYPD officers fatally shot a suspect who fired an airsoft pistol at an officer in the Bronx.
In video footage from the deadly encounter on Friday, the man moves from the street to a sidewalk, takes several steps and then backtracks, before a plainclothes detective engages him, and the perpetrator collapses facedown on the ground with a weapon in hand, the New York Post reported.
The deadly shooting unfolded after a narcotics detective — working an unrelated case — overheard a man among a group of people arguing say he was going to retrieve a gun from his truck at about 7 p.m. on Friday, police said.
Detectives saw the 51-year-old suspect exiting the vehicle with the pistol, authorities said.
As he walked on the sidewalk, he was confronted by one of the plainclothes detectives, who yelled, “’Police, don’t move!’” NYPD Assistant Chief Philip Rivera said at a news conference.
Rather than complying, the suspect raised his weapon and discharged one round, “just missing the detective’s head,” said Rivera.
The detective and a sergeant then returned fire 10 times, striking the unnamed man five times in the torso, police said. The suspect was taken to Lincoln Hospital where he later died.
The fatal officer-involved shooting occurred at Hunts Point Avenue at Seneca Avenue in the Bronx around 7 p.m. on May 13, 2022. (Screenshot New York Post)
A local man identified only as Ital, 71, lives near the scene. He said his daughter was coming home when she walked right into the chaos.
The daughter “saw the gun in the guy’s hand and when he pointed it at the police, the police didn’t hesitate to blast him,” Ital said, adding that the shot from police “came right across her face, in front of her.”
The airsoft pistol recovered from the Bronx shooting on Friday. (NYPD News/Twitter)
Following the shooting, Ital said he stepped outside and saw the suspect laying on the ground, as police were trying to resuscitate him.
“The police – they were pumping his chest. When one was tired the other came and was pumping him,” Ital said.
Watch video obtained by the New York Post here.
According to NYPD, the deceased suspect had 10 prior arrests, seven of them for felonies.
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