Cops fatally shoot machete-wielding man in NYC
By Larry Celona, Tina Moore, Joe Marino and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
December 29, 2020 | 7:09pm | Updated
A car with bullet holes at the scene of a police involved shooting at the intersection of Dumont Avenue and Strauss Street in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Police shot and killed an 18-year-old man who charged at them while wielding a machete in Brooklyn on Tuesday night — after he nearly chopped off a woman’s thumb, sources told The Post
The incident took place at around 6:10 p.m. near Dumont Avenue and Strauss Street in Brownsville.
NYPD Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes said police received a call of a man slashing people with a machete and saw a woman with her hand slashed when they arrived at the scene.
The man, a Bronx resident identified as Samuel Lazaro, had been smacking at cars in the area with the machete when police arrived, then slashed the woman’s thumb down to the bone — and even attacked her dog, the chief said at a briefing.
“Upon arriving at the scene the officers observed the suspect, who immediately charged at them while armed with the machete,” Holmes said.
“Officers gave commands to drop the machete,” she said. “The suspect did not comply and one officer discharged a single round, striking the suspect the chest.”
Lazaro was taken to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, the sources said.
The woman, who was also struck in the head and did not know the suspect, was being treated at Brookdale and was in stable condition.
Holmes said the woman’s dog was treated at a local animal clinic with a wound to the left shoulder.
She said the officers were not injured but were taken to Kings County Hospital for observation.
“All I heard was the gunshot,” said a neighborhood resident who identified herself as Paulette.
“I only heard one. I looked out and I saw a whole swarm of police. I saw a man on a stretcher being put into an ambulance.”
The shooting comes just over 24 hours after police shot and wounded a 35-year-old man who lunged at officers with his hand in his waistband in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
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