Jul 18, 2008 12:24 pm US/Eastern
Armed Man Fatally Shot By NYPD Officer
NEW YORK (AP) ―
A knife-wielding man with a history of mental problems was shot and killed by a police officer on Manhattan's Upper East Side after ignoring orders to drop the weapon, police said Friday.
Spencer Parris, 39, was killed Thursday night during a confrontation in the hallway outside an apartment he shared with his girlfriend. Police said the woman told them he suffered from bipolar disorder and had previously threatened suicide.
Police spokesman Paul Browne said the NYPD considered the shooting justified.
The incident began at about 11:15 p.m. when a cab driver flagged down patrol officers and reported that his passenger—the girlfriend—had been assaulted.
The woman told police that after being at a nearby bar with Parris, the couple went home and got into an argument. She said he pulled her hair and punched her in the face before she fled.
When the girlfriend and police officers decided to return to the apartment so she could retrieve clothes and money, Parris at first refused to open the door. Moments later, police said, he burst out wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts, holding a 13-inch knife over his head and yelling, "I'm going to kill you."
One of the officers pulled the girlfriend into a stairwell while the other drew his gun and ordered Parris to drop the knife, police said. The man kept advancing, backing the officer into the end of a narrow hallway, police said.
Parris came within about three feet of the officer when he fired a single shot into the victim's chest. The wounded man was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The knife was recovered at the scene.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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