Davonte Pressley was shot three times in the torso after lunging at police with a knife, officials said. View Full Caption NYPD and DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

EAST FLATBUSH — A 23-year-old man was critically injured Wednesday morning when police shot him in the torso as he lunged at them with a knife in East Flatbush, officials said.

LIVE on #Periscope: NYPD Chief of Patrol updating NYers on police involved shooting in Brooklyn, confines of the @N… https://t.co/r3bP56MrQK — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) October 26, 2016

Officers from the 67th Precinct got calls that someone with a knife and gun was outside a Remsen Avenue laundromat near Linden Boulevard about 10:50 a.m. They found 23-year-old Davonte Pressley there, officials said.

Pressley, who according to his mother suffers from Bipolar disorder, was clutching a knife and refused to drop it when ordered, according to NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan.

Instead, he lunged at them and an officer shot him three times in the torso, Monahan said.

Pressley was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition, Monahan said.

His mother, Paulette Pressley, said her son has been suffering with Bipolar disorder for at least two years but has never shown signs of violence.

“I’m devastated and still in shock. I don’t understand why they couldn’t use pepper spray or tase him,” the 46-year-old mother said. “What was the purpose of shooting him three times? If they’re scared of people they don’t need to be an officer.”

​Davonte Pressley. (facebook.com/paulette.pressley.5)

Peggy Hernandez, 47, owns PJ's Furniture & Mattress Plus down the block from where the shooting happened. She said she knows Pressley, who she said was quiet and spoke to her "with respect."

"I was having a cup of coffee early this morning in front of my store, my business," Hernandez said. "And I hear three gunshots: 'pow pow pow.'"

"I don't understand why this kid got shot, especially three times," Hernandez said.

"You have a bulletproof vest on. Why are you going to shoot somebody three times? It does not add up."

The injured man's mother, who lives with him about two blocks from the laundromat, also saw the scene and ran over, only to see it was her son who was shot.

“When I came on the scene there was almost 20 cops there. I don’t know if he had an episode but I know what I saw when I came on the scene," she said. “He was in handcuffs — limp body.”

Investigators recovered Pressley's blade but didn't immediately recover any firearms, officials said.

He was recovering in Brookdale Hospital, his mother said, and may need to undergo additional surgery.

She added that she was troubled by another recent case of an emotionally ill woman shot in The Bronx recently.

“It’s getting out of control,” Paulette said. “If you’re afraid of being a police officer then find another profession. They’re treating us like we’re all criminals.”