Police Shoot Knife-Wielding Man Outside East Village Deli: Cops

EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — A knife-wielding man was shot by cops in the East Village early Thursday after a stand-off at a Third Avenue deli, police said.

The 55-year-old man followed two 9th Precinct officers inside Healthy Greens Gourmet Deli, near East 10th St., with a knife in his hand around 6:40 a.m., police said.

Inside, he started menacing the cops with a knife, even as one of the officers used a taser on him, police said.

After getting into a confrontation with the store clerk, the man left the store, shoving one of the officers as they both walked out, police said.

"Once outside, the male continued to motion towards his waistband and refused the officer's repeated demands to stop his aggressive advances," police said.

The officer and another cop who had responded to the incident both shot at the man, hitting him in the arm and torso, police said.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. The officers were also sent to the hospital, but are not believed to be injured, an NYPD spokesperson said.

The knife was found at the scene, the spokesperson said.

(NYPD photo)

The incident is the third police-involved shooting this week.

NYPD officers also exchanged fire with a suspect in Brooklyn late Wednesday after the man stabbed an officer in the neck who was posted near Church and Flatbush avenues to deter looting, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a statement.

Police officers about a block away rushed over and saw the man with a gun in his hand, which authorities believed he grabbed from one of the officers, Shea said. Police and the suspect shot at each other, leaving two officers shot in the hand and the man shot multiple times.

He was in critical condition early Thursday at Kings County Hospital, where three injured police officers were treated as well. All the officers were in stable condition and expected to recover, Shea said.

Another police-involved shooting in Brooklyn happened Tuesday.

In that incident, NYPD officers shot an armed man in Crown Heights late Tuesday after an apparent standoff near Kingsborough Houses, authorities said.