Investigators want to know why a police officer who shot and killed an emotionally disturbed woman wielding scissors and a baseball bat didn’t use his stun gun instead, authorities said Wednesday.
The shooting happened inside an apartment in the Bronx on Tuesday evening.
Officers responding to a 911 call about an emotionally disturbed person encountered the 66-year-old woman holding scissors in a bedroom, police said.
A sergeant persuaded the woman to drop the scissors. Police said after she put down the scissors she grabbed a baseball bat and tried to strike the sergeant, who fired two shots from his revolver and hit her in the torso.
The woman was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The state attorney general’s office said it’s determining whether the shooting falls under its jurisdiction.
Assistant Chief Larry Nikunen said the sergeant had a Taser. He said the reason it was not deployed will be part of the investigation.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. issued a statement condemning the police shooting of a mentally disturbed woman.
“This elderly woman was known to the police department, yet the officer involved in this shooting failed to use discretion to either talk her down from her episode or, barring that, to use his stun gun,” Diaz said.
(AP)
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One Response
The buck stops with white police chief James O’Neill. The incompetent buffoon should step down in disgrace. It’s time for the askanim to stop shmeking and lecking with the police chief. I remember, how besides for Dov Hikind, they all came out defended the dog, Howard Safer, and all the cops that gunned down Gideon Bush in cold blood, execution style, right in the heart of Boro Park. His crime? Emotionally disturbed. They had all that fake “discussions” about proper training & prevention….and then it was back to business as usual. Back to the quotas of writing parking tickets. Back to pensions, benefits and coffee breaks. Oh yeh, let’s paint all NYPD cars with new colors and put slogans on them that make us feel good. Thanx