NYPD Officers Shoot And Kill Man Armed With Butcher Knife

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — NYPD officers fatally shot a 54-year-old man Sunday afternoon after police encountered him carrying a large butcher knife inside a Lower East Side apartment building, according to police.

Officers responded to a 911 call at about 4 p.m. at 126 Ludlow St., near Rivington Street, after a 75-year-old man suffered a laceration to his head, according to Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan South.

Inside the building, officers followed a trail of blood up a staircase, according to police.

As they climbed the stairs, officers encountered the man's 54-year-old son, Wei Chan, coming down the staircase with a large knife, Eger said.

Officers repeatedly ordered Chan to show his hands and drop the weapon, according to the officers.

Chan continued toward the officers with the knife, according to Eger.

Officers then fired their weapons, striking him.

Emergency personnel took Chan to Bellevue Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

His father remained hospitalized in stable condition and was expected to recover.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was vacationing upstate, said he wished the injured man a "full and speedy recovery."

Four officers also went to a hospital with minor injuries.

Chan had no known criminal history with the NYPD, according to police.

Eger said he had a documented mental health history with the department.

Mamdani said the NYPD will conduct an internal investigation and release the officers' body-worn camera footage.

The confrontation was captured on body-worn camera footage, according to Eger. The footage will be released as part of the investigation into the shooting.

The New York State Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation is also expected to investigate the death because the shooting involved police officers.

The investigation remains ongoing.