A man armed with a knife has died after being shot by a police officer on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. According to authorities, he climbed the supporting ropes of the structure, refused to put down his weapon and began approaching officers sent to take him down, the Associated Press reported.
At a press conference, Gerald Dowling, a spokesman for the specialized team, said that the man told officers that he wanted to kill him and claimed that he had a bomb.
The officers secured themselves to the bridge with safety belts and talked with him for about an hour. They assured him that they wanted to help him and take him to a safe place, repeatedly urging him to drop the knife.
According to Dowling, at one point the man began to quickly descend a rope below which the officers were located.
“The officers began to back away, but they could not do it at the same speed with which he was descending, and he was approaching them“, the spokesman said.
According to police information, when he was about ten meters from one of the officers, the man reached out with his hand with the knife towards him. Then a police officer, who was on the roadway, fired a single shot and shot him.
The officers took the injured man down and began to provide him with first aid. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
The incident was captured on body cameras worn by police officers. Dowling stressed that the rescuers were specially trained to act in such situations.
The man's identity has not been released. In addition to a knife, a flashlight was also found on him. When asked if an explosive device was found, Dowling replied that the investigation is ongoing.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on social media that police were dispatched after a 911 call about a man "who appeared to be trying to jump off the bridge."
According to the information published by the mayor, the man was holding a knife, threatened the officers and subsequently approached them, after which one of the officers fired.
The shooting led to the temporary closure of the Brooklyn Bridge and traffic blockage. Opened in 1883, the structure connects Manhattan and Brooklyn and reaches a height of 84 meters. It is not yet clear at what height the man and the police were.
The incident occurred just days after a knife attack in “Times Square“, in which a woman stabbed two bystanders, one of whom died. She was later shot by police, the Associated Press recalls.