Man with mental health issues fatally shot by cops in Manhattan, NYPD says
The NYPD said officers shot the man after he advanced toward them despite repeated commands that he drop a knife. Credit: James Carbone
NYPD officers fatally shot a man with mental health issues who had attacked his father Sunday afternoon in Manhattan, then rushed them with a large butcher knife, officials said.
Ray Chan, 54, came down the building stairs of 126 Ludlow St. on the Lower East Side shortly after 4 p.m. toward officers who had entered the building in response to multiple 911 calls about an assault at that address, according to Assistant NYPD Chief Melissa Eager, the commanding officer of the Manhattan South Patrol Bureau.
Eager said officers entered the building at the corner of Rivington Street and followed a trail of blood up the stairway.
She said Chan appeared before them coming down the stairs with a large cleaver in his hand.
“As officers issued repeated commands, the male continued to advance towards the officers, armed with the large butcher knife,” Eager said during a news conference. “Officers responded and discharged their firearms, striking the subject.”
Chan was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His father Cheng Chan, 75, was taken to the same hospital with nonlethal cuts to his head from his son’s attack, Eager said.
She said the son had no criminal record but was known to the officers in the 7th Precinct as having mental health issues.
She said the entire incident was captured on police body-worn cameras. The butcher knife was recovered, and the shooting is now subject to the NYPD’s force investigation division.
Under New York State law, all fatal officer-involved shootings must also be investigated by the state attorney general’s office.
Eager cautioned that the information that she provided was preliminary and subject to change.
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