4 injured at Brooklyn train station when police shoot man with knife

NEW YORK (AP) — Four people were injured in a Brooklyn subway station Sunday when police officers shot a man who threatened them with a knife, accidentally firing shots that struck passengers, authorities said.

Among those shot were two innocent bystanders, one of the police officers and the man with the blade, whom police initially confronted for not paying the fare, officials said.

One of the passengers, a 49-year-old man, was hospitalized in critical condition after a bullet entered a neighboring subway car and hit his head.

A video posted by a passenger showed angry passengers fleeing, police officers rushing to help the injured, and the wounded officer suddenly realizing that he, too, had been hit by a bullet.

Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Donlan, who was only appointed on Friday, promised a thorough investigation but blamed the incident on the man who was said to have brandished the knife.

“We will review today’s timeline, but rest assured: the events on the Sutter Avenue platform were the result of an armed offender who was confronted by our officers in the execution of our duties,” Donlon said.

The shooting occurred shortly after 3 p.m. when two officers followed a man up the station’s stairs to an elevated platform after seeing him enter without paying, Department Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said.

Officers ordered the man to stop, but he refused, muttering, “I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop following me,” Maddrey said. During the course of the encounter, officers noticed the man had a knife, Maddrey said.

They followed him onto a train that pulled into the station and fired two tasers, but none incapacitated the man, Maddrey said.

Maddrey said the man approached officers with the knife when they fired several shots.

The 37-year-old was hit several times. His condition was stable. A passenger’s video shows officers providing first aid before one of them notices that he too had been hit by a bullet.

“While they were tending to the man, they noticed that other people were also under fire, including gunshots,” Maddrey said.

In addition to the passenger who was hit in the head, a 26-year-old woman suffered a graze wound.

The injured police officer suffered a bullet that entered his upper body under his armpit and lodged in his back, but he is expected to make a full recovery.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, visited the injured officer in the hospital on Sunday.

Adams described the man who evaded subway fare as a “career criminal” and said he had been arrested over 20 times. Maddrey said the man had a history of mental illness.

Video footage of the shooting was not immediately released on Sunday. The New York Police Department released a cropped image in which the man allegedly held a knife. The blade was about the width of the gunman’s palm.

“I am particularly concerned about the pedestrians who are simply trying to get to their destination and who are the victims in this situation – the ones who get hurt,” said Janno Lieber of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The subway station serves the L line in the Brownsville neighborhood. Lieber said there are cameras inside the train, on the platform and at the entrance.

In 2019, NYPD officers accidentally shot and killed two colleagues in separate incidents while on duty while confronting suspects.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.