Cops at the scene after the deadly use of force. (Warzer Jaff)
Cops fatally shot a knife-wielding man in broad daylight near Times Square Saturday after chasing him down Seventh Avenue from 44th Street to 37th Street.
The victim sustained multiple gun shot wounds. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital at 3:12 p.m. while experiencing cardiac arrest and later died, police said.
The madman, a 30-year-old male, had lunged at officers, who told him to drop the knife. When he refused to let go of the weapon, they pepper-sprayed him. When he wouldn’t go down, at least one cop fired in plain sight of shocked witnesses, sources said.
“He came out of the subway and flashed two people,” said a witness, who said the victim was African American and sporting dread locks. “He tried to flash a cop, but then took off down Seventh Avenue. They were chasing him down. They cornered him between 37th and 38th and he was still waving his knife.” About 12 cops swarmed the scene, he said.
Tourists and New Yorkers who witnessed the scene Tweeted in shock.
“Waiting for the bus on 7th Ave, a wall of NYPD walking, WITH GUNS, chasing down a madman with knife,” a witness who went by the handle Sim Marshall tweeted. “1 block later. He was shot.”
“I’ve been in NYC for 10 minutes and saw a man shot on 7th ave! Omg….” tweeted one out-of-towner.
Another witness, tweeting under the handle “NewYorkRangersFan” who saw the dramatic confrontation described the scene as a “nut running down 7th ave a a huge knife and cops chasing him [with] guns drawn,” and said police “shot him 5 times in the stomach.”
Gunfire can be heard on cell phone video obtained by witnesses to the shooting.