Police yesterday fatally shot a naked man who charged at them with a butcher knife and used it to slash two cops’ bulletproof vests, law-enforcement sources said.
Cops arrived at Mohamed Bah’s Morningside Avenue apartment in Harlem at about 6:30 p.m. after his mother called 911 because he had refused to open his door.
The mother, Hawa Bah, had come from Guinea to celebrate her son’s 28th birthday this week.
“He is suffering from depression,’’ she said. “I called police to get them to help me open the door.”
When cops arrived, Bah opened the door naked with the blade in his hand. He slammed it shut and hostage negotiators were called.
Officers put a fiber-optic camera underneath the door, and Bah reached for it, rushed outside and charged at them with the weapon.
Cops tried to Taser Bah, a cabby, and fired a rubber bullet but it didn’t slow him down. When he slashed the vests, three cops opened fire, the sources said.
His brother, Osmon Bah, asked, “Why did they have to shoot him? All my mother did was call for help.”
An NYPD spokesman called the shooting justified.