A tense incident in Brooklyn Bridge ended in a fatal police shooting after a man climbed onto the bridge's cables with a knife, told officers that he wanted to die, police said.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday, September 4 when police received a 911 call at 3:30 a.m. about a man walking on the beams of Brooklyn Bridge.
Officers found him on the bridge cables, according to the New York Police Department.
Members of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit (ESU) climbed onto the cables and tried for nearly an hour to convince the man to come down safely.
Officers were equipped with harnesses because of the dangerous height and the treacherous conditions on the bridge.
Police said during the standoff the man held a knife and made a number of disturbing statements. The NYPD said he said to officers, “I want to die. I want you to kill me. I have a bomb.” No bomb has yet been found.
Officers continued to try to de-escalate the situation and repeatedly instructed the man to drop the knife and keep his arms down.
The situation changed when the man moved quickly down the cable in the direction of the officers.
WATCH: NYPD shoot knife-wielding man walking on Brooklyn Bridge cables after he threatens officers, claims he has a bomb and wants them to kill him pic.twitter.com/vFsXn7Llbo
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Police officials said that the officers were unable to move because they were pinned to the bridge with safety harnesses. As the man got within about three feet of one of the officers, he raised the arm holding the knife, police said.
Another officer on the bridge roadway then fired a single shot, hitting the man.
When he was brought down from the cables, officers immediately provided medical aid. The man was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue where he was later pronounced dead.
A knife and flashlight were recovered from the scene, police said. Police did not identify the man or his age at this point.
The shooting had also temporarily disrupted the Brooklyn Bridge. Traffic restrictions were put in place on the Brooklyn-bound side of the bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge was reopened on Friday morning.
The police shooting is now under investigation by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division. The encounter was captured on officers’ body cameras, officials said, which could shed more light on the sequence of events.
The incident has been a shocking story because the encounter itself was so unusual in the circumstances with officers trying to stop a potentially fatal fall and negotiating with an armed man on the bridge cables.
Authorities do not have details about the man’s background or what might have motivated him to climb onto the bridge, they said.
