An off-duty NYPD officer was involved in a fatal shooting of a man in Washington Heights last night, marking the second incident in a span of just over two days that an officer has discharged their weapon leading to a death. The shooting occurred after 9:45 p.m. on West 173rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue when two men approached the officer while riding separate mopeds, CBS News reports.
One man allegedly got off his moped, approached the off-duty officer to ask a question, and then pulled out a firearm. The officer responded by drawing his weapon and firing multiple shots, fatally wounding the man, according to police at a press conference this morning. A second individual involved reportedly fled the scene on a moped. A loaded 9mm handgun was recovered at the scene. The 30-year-old man who was shot was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. His identity has not been released pending notification of his family.
Earlier in the weekend, a similar deadly encounter unfolded on Staten Island. An off-duty officer shot and killed a man who reportedly pointed what appeared to be a gun at the police, according to Gothamist. Officials identified the man as 44-year-old Jesse Campbell, who does not comply with the officers' commands to drop the weapon and subsequently pointed the apparent weapon at them. An imitation firearm was recovered at the scene of this previous incident.
"Our officers were confronted with a dangerous and unpredictable situation, and they attempted to de-escalate the situation multiple times," Assistant Chief Melissa Eger told Gothamist, detailing that officers on Staten Island had faced a man who had a "documented criminal history in New York." Both shootings are under investigation by the NYPD’s force investigation division, with officials reviewing the circumstances surrounding each incident.
