NYPD officer fatally shoots man who pointed apparent fake gun at officers inside apartment: cops

Publish date: 2024-07-18

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An NYPD cop fatally shot a man who pointed what appears to be a fake gun at them inside a Queens apartment Monday morning, authorities said.

The 26-year-old man, who lived on the fourth floor of NYCHA’s Ocean Bay apartments on Beach 51st Street near Elizabeth Avenue in Far Rockaway, was shot multiple times by one police officer in the encounter, the NYPD said.

Police initially responded to NYCHA’s Ocean Bay apartments around 10:30 a.m. for a domestic dispute, cops said.

Once inside, another man directed them to a closed back bedroom, police said.

“[The officers] knocked on the door,” NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said during an afternoon press conference at the scene. “They had a conversation through the door for a few minutes, at which point the door opens up.

The deadly encounter unfolded inside NYCHA’s Ocean Bay apartments on Beach 51st Street. Peter Gerber
Police initially responded to NYCHA’s Ocean Bay apartments around 10:30 a.m. Peter Gerber

“Our members go to step into the door and then the male points a firearm at them,” the police official said. “Our officers gave commands to drop the weapon and then our officer discharged his firearm.”

The cops immediately began chest compressions on the wounded man and cut his clothes to locate the wound, Maddrey said.

EMS workers rushed the unidentified man – who did not appear to have “any prior interactions with law enforcement” – to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead just before noon.

Preliminarily, investigators believe the suspect was wielding an imitation gun. NYPD

The officer and his partner were both taken to a local hospital for medical evaluations.

The weapon that the suspect wielded during the deadly incident preliminarily appears to be “an imitation gun,” Maddrey said. 

“But of course [the] crime scene [unit] has to do a further analysis of the weapon to give us a definitive answer,” he added.

The initial 911 caller also reported that shots were fired prior to the NYPD’s arrival, but investigators do not believe that was the case, the police official said.

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