Police fatally shot a knife-wielding man walking on the cables of New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge after he ignored orders to drop the weapon, authorities said Friday. The shooting happened when he moved within feet of an officer trying to help him climb down.
The shooting at one of the city's most famous landmarks closed the bridge and tied up traffic for part of the morning. It happened four days after a woman randomly stabbed two people in Times
Square, killing one, and then was fatally shot by officers.
The man told the police rescue team that he wanted them to kill him and that he had a bomb, Gerard Dowling, commanding officer of the city's Emergency Services Unit, said at a news conference.
The officers had used a safety harness to attach themselves to the bridge and spoke to the man for about an hour, saying they wanted to help him and bring him to safety, Dowling said. They told him to drop the knife multiple times.
At one point, the man began to climb down a cable quickly. The officers were in a line below him on the same cable, Dowling said.
“The officers began to move backwards away from the male, but they were not able to move as quickly as the subject, who was approaching them,” he said.
When the man came within 3 feet (.9 meters) of one officer, he raised his arm with the knife extended toward the officer. One of the officers on the roadbed of the bridge then shot him once, Dowling said. The officers brought the man down and started rendering aid. He later died at a hospital.
Police body cameras recorded the encounter, he said.
Members of the team “are specially trained for these types of high-risk and incredibly dangerous situations,” Dowling said. “They receive extensive instruction on de-escalation and how to engage with individuals compassionately.”
The man's name was not released.
Police said in addition to a knife, they recovered a flashlight.
When a reporter asked if police found a bomb, Dowling said that was part of the ongoing investigation.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted online that officers responded after receiving a 911 call about a man “who appeared to be attempting to jump from the bridge.”
He said the police tried to de-escalate the situation and urged the man not to jump.
“The man was holding a knife and threatened the officers. He eventually moved toward the officers, coming within close proximity to a number of responding officers. One responding officer discharged his weapon and struck the man,” Mamdani said.
The police department posted a video on social media in July about the Emergency Service Unit’s successful rescue of a woman in distress who had climbed onto the bridge. The team specializes in high-angle rescue, scuba and emergency psychological technician training, Dowling said in the video.
The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, is a cable-supported suspension bridge that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Its tower height is 276.5 feet (84 meters) above water. It's not clear how high up the man and the police officers were.
The stabbings on Monday happened near a New York Police Department substation, just outside One Times Square, the building that hosts the city’s annual New Year’s Eve ball drop celebration. It is one of the most heavily touristed and policed spots in all of New York.
A 49-year-old Queens woman pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man in the abdomen, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. The man had just left the subway station and was waiting to cross the street with his wife.
Seconds later, the woman also stabbed a 32-year-old woman in the abdomen, Tisch said. The victim later died.
Officers tried to convince the woman, identified as Pamela Cisneros, to drop the knives for several minutes before using a Taser, Tisch said. The woman told them: “I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you,” according to Tisch.
A video shows the Taser failing to incapacitate Cisneros, who walks quickly toward the officers while waving the knives in front of her.
Two officers then shot the woman, according to police.
