The New York Police Department says the number of police shootings fell in 2013.

The report found that there were 40 instances in which officers shot at suspects. That was down from 45 in 2012 and an 11-year high of 61 in 2003.

The report says that last year eight people — all armed with either a gun or a “cutting instrument” — died from police shootings. That’s down from 16 a year earlier. l

The New York Times says the report covers the final year of the Bloomberg administration.

It was released on Tuesday, hours after police fatally shot a knife-wielding suspect at a Brooklyn Jewish center.

In about half of the 2013 shootings, officers fired a single shot.

(AP)