NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A 78-year-old Brooklyn man was shot and killed Thursday after aiming his gun at two officers responding to a report of a burglary, police said.
Gunfire rang out around 1:15 p.m. after police responded to a call about a reported break-in in an apartment on Lewis Avenue near Hancock Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The 911 caller said that his elderly uncle was in his apartment and that a break-in was taking place, said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey at a news conference.
Officers entered the building and knocked on the apartment on the second floor in question. The man partially opened the front door of an apartment with his body turned to the side and a gun in his left hand, Maddrey said citing unreleased body camera footage.
Maddrey said the 78-year-old then started to raise his left hand, which had a firearm in it.
He said the officers started yelling, "No!" and backing up when the man raised the firearm up and stepped outside the apartment with the gun pointed at the two officers.
The two officers shot him multiple times. Both officers fell to the ground because they were trapped inside the hallway, Maddrey said.
Once they got back up on their feet, they attempted CPR and other life-saving measures until additional units arrived.
Maddrey said the man was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, where he died. His identity has not been released at this time.
The officers were not shot but were treated at a hospital for tinnitus, or ringing in the ears.
Police confirmed that the man who died was the same "uncle" referred to during the police call reporting the apparent burglary, although Maddrey said there was no evidence of a burglary or a break-in inside the apartment.
"This is a tragic situation," he said. "Our officers were put in a life-and-death situation investigating a crime in progress."
The man's firearm was recovered, and an investigation is ongoing.
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