(Updated) Gun Battle With Police Leaves Clinton Hill Man Dead: NYPD

Pictured: 20 Debevoise Ave, where police say they encountered Johnson. Image via Google Maps

By FEROZE DHANOA and JOHN V. SANTORE

EAST WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A 42-year-old Clinton Hill man armed with a semi-automatic handgun was shot and killed by police on Sunday, police said.

According to the NYPD, police received multiple calls around 7:40 a.m. reporting an emotionally disturbed man with a gun near 20 Debevoise Ave. The calls also reported that the man had committed an armed robbery, police said. (An NYPD spokesman said that a person is categorized as being emotionally disturbed if they are a danger to themselves, to others, or to both.)

Upon arriving, two police officers found the man, identified Sunday as Jermaine Johnson of Clinton Hill, in the courtyard of the Cooper Park Houses.

The officers exchanged gunfire with Johnson, police said. On Monday, an NYPD spokeswoman said she did not have further details on the number of shots fired, or by whom.

But DNAinfo reported that Brooklyn North Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said at a press conference that Johnson fired five times, while police fired between 12 and 15 times, hitting Johnson twice.

A video apparently filmed from inside the Cooper Park Houses and posted to Facebook by a man named Brandon Herron shows a man moving on the ground, after which two gunshots are fired:

Johnson was struck, and was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, according to the NYPD.

The two officers involved in the shooting were not struck, police said.

Police released a photo of a firearm recovered from the scene which they said was Johnson's:

A subsequent police investigation found that Johnson had committed two robberies at gunpoint shortly before he encountered the officers, police said.

Police "had no choice" but to shoot, a witness named Darlene Roman told DNAinfo. "It was serious. [Johnson] was aggressive. He was attacking people for no reason."

The New York Times reported that it had reached Johnson's family home by phone. A man who said he was Johnson's brother told the paper that the family couldn't discuss the police department's account of the shooting because its members were "still mourning" and "celebrating [Johnson's] life."

The encounter with Johnson is the third police-involved shooting within the past 10 days. On Tuesday, police shot and killed a suspected robber in South Brooklyn and last Saturday, a man who police said was was observed "menacing" motorists with a firearm was injured in a shooting in Prospect Lefferts Garden.