An NYPD officer shot and critically wounded a knife-wielding man who charged at police during a domestic dispute call on the Lower East Side.
Officers responded to a home at 126 Ludlow St. In Manhattan around 4 p.m. Sunday after reports of a domestic dispute, law-enforcement sources said. A man at the residence grabbed a large knife and charged at the responding officers, prompting one cop to open fire.
The suspect was gravely injured by the gunshot and rushed by medics to NYC Health + Hospitals, where he was listed in critical condition as of Sunday afternoon.
A witness at the scene was also wounded, according to sources. The witness’s condition was not immediately clear as of Sunday afternoon.
Police recovered the knife at the scene, the NYPD said.
The shooting marks the latest in a string of recent police-involved incidents across New York City involving individuals with knives and other weapons. In January, officers shot and critically wounded Jabez Chakraborty, 22, in Queens after his family called 911 for an involuntary transportation and he allegedly lunged at officers with a kitchen knife. That case drew attention from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who urged prosecutors not to charge Chakraborty and said he “needs mental health care, not criminal prosecution.”
The Ludlow Street incident unfolded in a residential building in a neighborhood that has seen increased police activity in recent months. The block sits among a mix of tenement-style apartments and newer developments in the Lower East Side, an area that has undergone significant gentrification while still grappling with occasional violent incidents.
In the viral moment that drew national attention earlier this year, body-camera footage showed Chakraborty grabbing a knife in his family’s kitchen and advancing toward officers while a woman shouted “Baba! Baba, no! No!” Officer Tyree White fired four shots as Chakraborty muscled through a glass-paned door. The footage, released by the NYPD, showed the encounter lasted about a minute before Chakraborty collapsed onto a couch.
The January Queens shooting sparked debate about police protocols for responding to mental health crises. Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry defended the officers’ actions, stating, “The video makes it clear that these police officers walked into an unpredictable, fast-moving and dangerous situation. There was no time or space for them to deescalate the situation before they were forced to act.”
The NYPD has not yet released body-camera footage from Sunday’s Lower East Side shooting, and the identity of the suspect has not been disclosed. The officer who fired the shot has also not been identified.
Investigations into police-involved shootings are standard protocol for the department, with the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division typically reviewing such incidents.
The witness who was wounded in Sunday’s incident was not identified, and it remained unclear whether that individual was struck by gunfire or injured in another manner during the confrontation.