Virus vic wanted to die Officers shoot armed Bx. man as he confronts them in ‘suicide by cop’
A man who recently tested positive for coronavirus — and armed with a knife and gun — was shot and wounded by police while attempting “suicide by cop” in the Bronx early Wednesday, authorities said.
“He told police that he had tested positive for the virus earlier yesterday,” an NYPD spokesman said of the suspect, identified by police sources as Ricardo Cardona. “He called 911 on himself. It appears he was hoping cops would shoot him — that was the point of his confrontation.”
Besides Cardona, two other people called 911 just before 4 a.m. reporting a man with a knife outside a shuttered Dunkin’ Donuts at Westchester Ave. and Zerega Ave. in Westchester Square.
The responding officers found Cardona, 55, armed with a fearsome combat knife and a long-barreled black powder gun, police said.
“He was shot right there,” said a 34-year-old construction worker, who witnessed the aftermath from his window. Cardona lay bleeding half on the sidewalk, the witness said.
“His body was on the sewer grate and his head was up on the pavement,” the hardhat said. “He was on the ground moaning. He was still holding [his weapon].”
Cardona’s niece Gabriella Marquez confirmed her uncle tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday. The security guard already suffered from diabetes and feared the worst, she said.
Marquez, 25, didn’t know Cardona was shot by police until her and her sister showed up at his apartment and saw police outside his door.
“We haven’t heard from him, and with his diagnosis we were concerned,” Marquez said. “We were worried that something happened.”
Cardona was suffering from COVID-19 symptoms for days when he went to Montefiore’s Westchester Square Campus, but he was sent home, relatives said. When his symptoms didn’t go away, he went back to the hospital Tuesday and was diagnosed with the virus.
An NYPD spokesman said when the officers from the 45th Precinct arrived at the scene, Cardona “advanced on them with a gun.” “He was told multiple times, ‘Drop the knife! Drop the gun! and Don’t move!’ and he ignored these and was shot,” the spokesman said.
A second witness confirmed that cops screamed at Cardona to drop his gun before firing three shots. Then the cops screamed “Drop the gun!” again before more shots were heard.
“They had to think of their own safety,” the construction worker said of the cops.
Cardona was blasted in the hip and back. Cops fired a total of nine shots, authorities said.
EMTs rushed Cardona to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was in stable condition Wednesday afternoon. The officers were taken to the Westchester Square Campus for observation and were then released.
Charges against were pending.
Cardona