Mamdani Reacts Carefully to Two Police Shootings on Same Day

NYPD officers in Brooklyn and Manhattan shot and killed weapon-wielding suspects in two separate incidents on Thursday, a rare occurrence in a city that saw a total of 14 fatal shootings by police all of last year.

In his first public comments on the incidents, Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the pair of shootings “devastating to all New Yorkers.”

“I know many are eager for answers. The NYPD is conducting an internal investigation — I will work with Commissioner Tisch to ensure this is as thorough and swift as possible,” Mamdani wrote on social media Friday. “These tragedies are painful, whether they take place steps from our home or miles away. They are a reminder of the immense work that must be done to deliver genuine public safety — work Commissioner Tisch and I are undertaking together every day.”

In Brooklyn, police officials said that the department received multiple 911 calls shortly before 5:30 p.m. concerning a “violent male armed with a knife” at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope.

“The calls stated that he had barricaded himself inside a room with other people and had cut himself and was trying to cut other people. According to hospital staff, the subject had also threatened to kill them,” Assistant Chief Charles Minch said at a briefing Thursday evening.

Per the official police account, officers arrived at the eighth floor of the hospital, where they saw blood on the walls, floor, and on the outside of the door where the man was located along with an elderly patient and a member of the hospital security staff who were trapped inside the room with him. Minch said the man displayed the bloody weapon and refused multiple orders from the officers to drop it, beginning a seven-minute standoff in which the suspect attempted to forcibly close the door as law enforcement tried to keep it open. As the suspect advanced, officers fired a firearm and a Taser simultaneously, with the stun gun failing to subdue the suspect. According to Minch, the suspect advanced again and officers once again deployed their Tasers, which were, once again, ineffective. The officers then opened fire with their firearms, striking the suspect who was soon pronounced dead.

“This situation could’ve turned out very differently,” Minch said.

Though authorities had not yet identified the source of the weapon at the time of the briefing, the Daily News has since reported that the weapon was believed to be a shard from a broken toilet seat, according to sources. The suspect was later revealed to have been a patient at the hospital who was admitted Wednesday.

At a briefing in the West Village, Assistant Chief James McCarthy said that officers were flagged down at 10:53 p.m. around Bedford and Sixth Avenues by two people who said they were involved in a crash with a car that was attempting to flee the scene. When officers arrived, a 37-year-old man exited a BMW, drawing what appeared to be a gun and pointing it at the officers. The officers then opened fire, striking the suspect. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead. “The suspect maintained possession of the firearm while officers repeatedly gave commands for him to drop the weapon,” McCarthy said.

Police later retrieved what was deemed to be a fake gun from the scene, sharing a picture of the weapon on social media. The incident was captured on bodycam footage and is currently being investigated by the Force Investigation Division.

Many noted that the mayor waited until Friday morning to address the two shootings from Thursday evening. At an unrelated press conference, Mamdani said though he had been briefed on the incidents late last night, he wanted to exercise caution with his comments. “I take it very seriously, the language that I use. And I think that in a situation such as this, you have to be very intentional in what you share,” he said.

A use-of-force report issued by the NYPD in late December noted an increase of reportable force usages, recording ​​11,746 incidents in 2024 compared to 9,777 in 2023. 2024 also saw an increase in firearm discharges, with 28 intentional discharges and 14 fatal injuries.