Cops shoot, critically wound disturbed man wielding knife in Bronx
NYPD cops shot and critically wounded a man with a knife outside his family’s Bronx apartment Sunday morning after his father called 911 to report a domestic disturbance, police said.
The shooting happened at about 10 a.m. on Grand Concourse near E. Kingsbridge Road. Cops recovered a knife with a 9-inch blade and 4-inch handle.
The 42-year-old man was visiting his father when he had what the dad described to police as a “medical episode,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell. “[He] feels he’s being followed, persecuted, and goes on to say, ‘If any cops show up here today, I will kill them.’ ”
After two officers from the 52nd Precinct met the dad outside, his son stormed out of the building vestibule, “clearly agitated,” Chell said. He dropped a bag and took out a knife, advancing toward the cops and refusing commands to drop the weapon, Chell added.
The man got within 5 or 6 feet of the officers, a police source said.
Police sources said one officer fired five shots while the other fired two. The knife-wielding man, identified by sources as Raul Delacruz, was hit three times, twice in the upper chest, once in the leg.
Delacruz, who’s homeless, has a history of mental illness, police sources said. His father tried to calm him down after police arrived, the sources added.
The officers yelled, “Stay right there, stay right there!” one source recounted.
“He pulls the knife and starts advancing toward them,” the source said. “He advances toward them. They yell, ‘Put the knife down. Stop, stop, stop!’ He keeps advancing. They fire.”
Chell told reporters the entire interaction lasted 28 seconds and was caught on the officers’ bodyworn cameras.
Delacruz had five phones in his possession. His father told police the son likes recording day-to-day interactions with the phones, sources said.
The officers rendered first aid after shooting Delacruz, and medics took him to a nearby hospital in critical condition, Chell said.