Police say officers shot a man who approached them with a knife in the Bronx on Sunday evening.

The series of events began when a man who lives at 355 E. 148th St. in Mott Haven called 911 regarding a man that he said was trying to steal his air conditioner, according to officials.

What You Need To Know

  • Police shot a man who they say lunged at them with a knife after officers responded to a 911 call about an attempted theft of an air conditioning unit

  • The man with the knife was the man who called 911, according to police. Officials say the man was taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition

  • According to police, the man may have been in the building’s courtyard confronting the man he says was trying to steal his air conditioner. However, the other man has not been identified and police are still searching for him

Two police officers showed up, but they could not locate the man who called. But as they were walking downstairs and approaching the first floor landing, a man with a knife came inside from a side door leading to the building’s courtyard, officials said.

“As they are approaching [the] first floor landing, a 32-year-old male was coming up the staircase from a side entrance with a kitchen knife in his right hand,” Rohan Griffith, with the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division, said.  

In Ring doorbell camera footage from the door of a main floor apartment, it shows an officer appearing to yell at someone to “wait.” Then the video shows two shots fired.

“One officer gave the male verbal commands to ‘wait, wait, wait,’ and also told him to drop it and also put [a] hand up to motion for him to stop,” Griffith said. “The male continued to swiftly approach officers, still with knife in hand.”

Police later confirmed that the man holding the knife is the man who called 911.

“This was extremely fast-moving, lasting only a few seconds, in an extremely tight stairwell,” Griffith added.

“I heard like two gunshots, pop pop,” David Bermudez, who lives in the building, said. “I came downstairs and all I see was blood on the floor and the man laying down.”

First responders transported him to Lincoln Hospital, where doctors were able to stabilize him.

Juan Rivera, who shared his Ring camera footage, says he was shocked by the number of officers that soon showed up.

“More than 100 cops,” Rivera said.

Others in the building speculate that the officers not giving their orders in Spanish may have been part of the issue.

“Yes, especially those specific words, [like] ‘put it down’ — like ‘abajo.’ Those little words that might help the person understand what they’re saying,” Pamela Rosario, a resident, said.

As for the man that was allegedly trying to steal the air conditioner, police say they have footage of the man with the knife and the other man in the side courtyard together.

However, police have not identified the other man and are still searching for him.