Police said they were trying to break up a fight in the Flatlands neighborhood when a suspect turned on them with a weapon, prompting officers to shoot. NBC New York’s Andrew Siff reports.
A person was shot by NYPD officers who were apparently trying to break up a fight in Brooklyn Wednesday afternoon, police said, stressing the preliminary nature of the investigation.
A report of the shooting at Utica Avenue and Avenue K came in just before 2 p.m. Police said two plainclothes detectives were out working a case when they noticed two people in an argument. One of those people had a box cutter in his right hand.
Officers told the man repeatedly to drop the box cutter and he refused, the NYPD said during a press conference. The man walked away from the detectives and tried to start arguing with the other man once again, leading to one office putting himself between the two men.
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WATCH HEREThen the suspect allegedly lunged at the officers, coming within three or four feet of a detective. That officer fired one time, striking the man in the torso.
Below is a picture of the weapon recovered following today’s incident near Utica Avenue and Avenue K, in Brooklyn. https://t.co/viEtKkOhsm pic.twitter.com/Nic1Dvp8Z6
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) March 12, 2025
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SIGN UP He was taken to Kings County hospital in critical condition, but was expected to survive.
The detectives were being treated for tinnitus and are expected to be OK. The suspect with the box cutter, who has not been identified, was said to have three prior run-ins with police since 2017, all of which involved mental illness.
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The two men did not know each other prior to the incident. The suspect was believed to have been standing on the street corner as the other man drove by, when he threw something at the man's car. The driver stopped, and things escalated from there. The entire altercation was captured on surveillance video.
"He tried not to get into a big fight, but he pulled a knife, charged toward my mother," said Ilya Sekhniashvili, the victim's brother.
Sekhniashvili said his brother was prepared to defend his mother, but the police intervened.
"If the police weren’t here, probably — God forbid, I don’t know what would’ve happened," said Sekhniashvili.
The NYPD posted on X that people should avoid the area as the investigation unfolds. Chopper 4 showed a heavy emergency presence at the scene.
