Police shoot dead a machete-wielding man, 18, who hacked a woman and her pit bull on a Brooklyn street as violent crime in the Big Apple soars and city sees most murders since 2011
A New York City cop shot dead a machete-wielding teenager who police say slashed a woman and her pet pit bull on a Brooklyn street before rushing at responding officers overnight.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Juanita Holmes said officers responded to multiple 911 calls in the Bronwsville section of Brooklyn about a man, later identified as 18-year-old Samuel Lazaro, who was 'acting erratic, laying on the ground, damaging parked vehicles, attempting to enter one caller’s front yard and chasing people in the area with the machete.'
A 50-year-old woman walking her dog near the intersection of Strauss Street and Dumont Avenue at 6.15pm was attacked by Lazaro, Holmes said, suffering deep cuts to her head and both hands. Her dog was cut in the shoulder.
Police are seen at the scene of a machete attack and fatal officer-involved shooting in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn on Tuesday evening
Police say 18-year-old Samuel Lazaro used this machete to hack at a 50-year-old woman and her pet pit bull near the intersection of Strauss Street and Dumont Avenue
Police received multiple 911 calls reporting that a machete-wielding suspect was acting erratically and damaging parked cars
The woman was rushed Kings County Hospital, while her pit bull was taken to an area veterinary clinic. Both the woman and the dog were in stable condition, Holmes said.
Upon arrival at the east Brooklyn scene, officers were 'immediately' charged by Lazaro, who ignored commands to drop the blade, Holmes said.
One officer fired a single shot that struck the 18-year-old suspect in the chest. Lazaro was pronounced dead at a hospital.
'I saw people coming out on stretchers, the lady with her dog. The dog was barking. This is crazy,' neighbor Keisha Tull told CBS New York.
Police say Lazaro refused multiple commands to put down his weapon and charged at officers, one of whom opened fire, fatally shooting the teen in the chest
Detectives examine evidence at the scene of the attack and deadly shooting on Tuesday
A pair of women's winter boots, presumably belonging to the victim of the attack, are seen laying on the ground at the scene of the crime in Brooklyn
Tull also told the New York Daily News that the shooting took place in front of a young boy, who was later seen crying in a nearby park.
The deadly incident was the second officer-involved shooting in Brooklyn in as many days, after an officer responding to reports about a gunman shot and wounded 35-year-old Curtis McGarrell in the leg on Lenox Road in central Brooklyn on Monday. No gun was ultimately found on McGarrell.
New York City had recorded 447 killings as of Tuesday, a 41 per cent increase over last year and the largest number since 2011. The number of people shot has more than doubled last year’s total, nearing a 14-year high.
This year also marked the third consecutive year of rising homicides after New York City recorded a modern-era low of 292 killings in 2017.