New York — A man was killed with a gun Thursday in a shootout with police in New York City after he pointed a gun at a man in an apartment building elevator and a deli worker and threatened to shoot up a hospital, police said.
New York Police Department officers took the man to the hospital in a police vehicle and he was pronounced dead, Patrol Chief Philip Rivera told reporters. The police officers were taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Police said the man was in an elevator in an apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan around 7 p.m. when he spoke to another man and then pulled out a firearm and pointed it at him.
The man then went to a nearby restaurant, pointed a gun at a worker behind the counter and told him to call 911, saying he was going to the hospital to be shot, police said.
Shortly after, the man briefly entered Mount Sinai Medical Center before leaving and placing a firearm on the ground, police said. He then went back inside where he told a police officer working a paid security job that he had a gun, police said.
When the officer tried to escort him out, they struggled, and the man retrieved his gun and the officer called for backup, police said.
The man then walked down the street and confronted police officers in vehicles. The man immediately fired his gun at the officers as they got out of their car, Rivera said. He added that the officers returned fire and wounded him.
“Every day, our officers put on their uniforms and face dangerous situations all over this city. But there’s another kind of danger when someone walks into a deli and a hospital with a gun and opens fire directly at the NYPD,” Rivera said.
Rivera did not provide details about the man.