NYPD shoots and kills man with knife who claimed to have bomb during clash on Brooklyn Bridge

An NYPD Emergency Service Unit cop shot and killed a Bronx man who claimed he had a bomb, said he wanted to die, and attempted to stab officers with a knife during a harrowing clash on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge hundreds of feat above the East River Friday, police said.

Friday’s shooting marks the second time this week cops were forced to shoot and kill an armed suspect, officials said.

Cops were called to the bridge on a report of a man walking on the bridge’s beams at about 3:30 a.m., officials said.

Officers found the man scaling the bridge’s cables, quickly climbed up to him, and explained they were “there to help and tried to convince him to come safely down,” Assistant Chief Gerard Dowling, the commanding officer of ESU, told reporters at a press conference Friday morning.

“(Officers) observed that the male was holding a knife and he stated to them, ‘I want to die. I want you to kill me. I have a bomb. You’re not going to make me do something bad to the cops,’” Dowling said.

After nearly an hour trying to persuade the man to climb down to the roadway, he “quickly descended the cable” toward the cops, Dowling continued.

ESU officers, who were moving slowly because they were harnessed and clipped to the same cable the man was climbing down, attempted to back away from him but “were not able to move as quickly,” Dowling said.

“Being secured to the bridge drastically impacts the speed of their movement,” the chief said.

“When the male got within approximately three feet from the closest member of ESU, he raised his arm with the knife extended outward towards the officer,” Dowling said. “At that point, a member of ESU who was on the roadbed discharged his weapon one time, striking the male.”

Officers brought the man down and began rendering aid before medics arrived and rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name was not immediately released.

Cops recovered the man’s knife and a flashlight that he dropped, officials said.

“As is standard when an NYPD officer discharges a firearm, the department will conduct an internal investigation, and body-worn camera footage will be released,” Mayor Mamdani said on X Friday. “Based on preliminary information, officers worked to de-escalate the situation for approximately an hour and urged the man not to jump.”

Dowling said police were investigating the man’s claims that he had a bomb, but would not say if any bomb materials were found on him.

The armed man, who lived in Parkchester, was described by his next-door neighbor as a quiet guy who kept to himself.

“That’s crazy. I wouldn’t even imagine that,” Nicole, 30, said of his killing. “I don’t have a relationship with him, but because I live right here, it’s really sad. I feel really bad.”

The NYPD temporarily closed the Brooklyn-bound side of the iconic bridge as they investigated. All lanes were reopened as of 8:30 a.m., cops said.

Early-morning commuters saw a massive amount of police activity on the bridge following the incident.

“All Brooklyn bound lanes closed on the Brooklyn Bridge. Helicopters and police boats since 3 am for a “police operation”?” X user Gia wrote. “No one knows what’s going on?”

The Friday morning shooting came days after the police shot and killed a mentally ill woman wielding two knives in Times Square after she had stabbed two people, killing one.

On Monday, the emotionally disturbed woman, identified as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros, stabbed a 68-year-old Rhode Island man in the stomach near W. 41st St. and Seventh Ave. around 4:20 p.m., before fatally knifing 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a mother of a 5-month-old baby girl who had just returned to her job as a vice president at Bank of America.

Cops quickly found Cisneros holding two kitchen knives and surrounded her. Officers Tased and then fatally shot Cisneros as she advanced on them, swinging a knife in each hand, cops said.

With Julian Roberts-Grmela