‘Airsoft gunman’ shot dead by NYPD

Police shot and killed a man in The Bronx on Friday night after he fired a shot at a plainclothes detective with an airsoft pistol, authorities said.

The shooting unfolded after a narcotics detective conducting an unrelated investigation with other cops near Seneca Avenue and Hunts Point Avenue overheard a man among a group of people arguing say he was going to retrieve a gun from his truck at about 7 p.m., police said.

The detective notified other investigators near the scene, and police later spotted the man exiting the vehicle with the weapon.

As the 51-year-old suspect was walking on the sidewalk, he was confronted by one of the plainclothes detectives, who yelled “‘Police, don’t move!’ ” NYPD Assistant Chief Philip Rivera said at a press conference from the scene.

But instead of complying, the man raised his gun and fired off one shot, “just missing the detective’s head,” said Rivera.

The detective and a sergeant then returned fire 10 times, striking the man five times in the torso, police said.

The suspect was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he later died.

The cops who opened fire were taken to Jacobi Medical Center for tinnitus, sources said.

Police said the man’s Byrna HD airsoft pistol was recovered from the scene.

Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack held up a photo of the nonlethal weapon at the press conference and noted how it resembles a “semiautomatic firearm.”

The slain man had 10 prior arrests, seven of them for felonies, police said. He was convicted of felony assault in 1988, according to the NYPD.

William Rosario, 46, who lives across the street from the shooting, said he saw first responders aiding the man.

“They were putting pressure and he was heaving,” said Rosario. “He looked dead.”

Rosario decried the violence, which he said is getting out of hand in the Hunts Point neighborhood.

“This is just crazy. It gets worse and worse,” said Rosario. “I feel afraid for my kids and my family and my wife. It’s scary.”

Friday night’s gunfire marked the second policeinvolved shooting in the borough in just three days.

Officer Dennis Vargas, 32, was shot in the arm Tuesday night during a shootout with a suspect in the Claremont section, officials said.