In Early Test For Mamdani, Nypd Fatally Shoots Man Inside Brooklyn Hospital

NEW YORK — New York City police officers shot and killed a man inside a Brooklyn hospital Thursday night in a dramatic scene that could present an early test for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist with a history of criticizing the NYPD.

Officers arrived at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope around 5:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a man armed with a knife who had cut himself, threatened to cut and kill others and had barricaded himself in a blood-splattered room along with a patient and a hospital worker, according to a police official who briefed the media hours later.

After several minutes that involved ordering the man to drop the weapon, tasing him and struggling as he attempted to shut the door to the room, officers hit the man with a volley of gun shots. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

“Every day our officers put on their uniforms, they never know what kind of dangerous situation they are going to encounter,” Assistant Chief Charles Minch said.

Mamdani did not immediately comment on the shooting. His past criticisms of the NYPD — including his desire to defund the police — and the desire from certain corners of his base for police reform, could make the issue a dicey one to navigate.

Some Mamdani supporters have already expressed disbelief that he would retain NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who holds many diametrically opposed views on issues like criminal justice reform. The two recently held their first joint press conference and took great pains — mostly on the part of the mayor — to emphasize their cooperation.

Police-involved killings have bedeviled mayors in the past.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio endured years of criticism for not proceeding with a departmental disciplinary trial for Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who held Eric Garner in a chokehold that led to Garner’s death. Pantaleo was ultimately fired from the NYPD and stripped of his pension benefits. And the officers who shot and killed Win Rozario in 2024 became a constant line of inquiry for Eric Adams, though the former mayor was far more overtly pro-police than either de Blasio or Mamdani.

Mamdani has proposed taking responsibility for mental health calls away from the NYPD and giving it instead to a new division called the Department of Community Safety. The mayor has said the move will keep New Yorkers safer while allowing officers to focus on crime. Critics, however, have said the switch could put social service workers in danger.