Knifeman shot dead by police after chase

Police have shot and killed a man they say lunged at them with a knife in a confrontation around one of New York City’s most tourist-heavy areas.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Aug 2012, 07:00 BST

The incident started on Saturday afternoon in Times Square when officers approached a 51-year-old man they say appeared
to be smoking marijuana near West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue.

The man became agitated, pulled out an 11in knife and began to put a bandanna on his head, police said.

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He refused repeated orders to drop the weapon and began backing down the avenue, continuing for a number of blocks and drawing many officers into a slow-speed pursuit that took them south of Times Square.

According to the police account, officers pepper-sprayed the man six times but he held on to the knife throughout the seven-block pursuit.

At West 37th Street, he lunged at his pursuers and two officers shot him in the torso, police said. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.

Witnesses recalled a chaotic scene in which some bystanders took cover, while others began following the procession down the avenue in an attempt to capture mobile phone video of it.