Police killed a man armed with a 13-inch knife and another man who fired shots into a lounge in two separate occurrences overnight on Wednesday

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

New York police fatally shot two armed men in Brooklyn in the span of about six hours on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, authorities said.

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In the first incident, police killed 63-year-old James Owens in the borough’s Canarsie neighborhood. Officers were responding to a report of an “emotionally disturbed person” on Tuesday evening when they found Owens in a house, according to the police account. Authorities said Owens grabbed a 13-inch knife and moved toward the officers. Police first shocked Owens with a stun gun before fatally shooting him.

About six hours later, police shot and killed a second man in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood. Police say the man was carrying a gun and firing shots into a lounge early Wednesday morning. According to authorities, the officers opened fire when the man turned toward them with the gun in his hand.

New York City police killed 12 people in all of 2016, according to The Counted, the Guardian’s project to track police killings.



The Associated Press contributed to this report