A man who threatened to stab his mother with a screwdriver at a Laurelton home early on Saturday morning was fatally shot by police officers as they struggled to disarm him, law enforcement sources said.
Officers from the 113th Precinct went to a home on Westgate Street near Thurston Street at around 3 a.m. on Jan. 14 to investigate a 911 call about a woman screaming from inside the location.
When they arrived, authorities said, the uniformed officers heard screaming and encountered a man holding a woman — later determined to be his mother — with a screwdriver while on a small stairwell leading to a rear entrance.
According to Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan, the officers ordered the suspect to drop the weapon, but the man refused to do so. They then engaged in a physical struggle with the suspect and were able to free the woman from his clutches.
The man, however, kept hold of the screwdriver, and officers continued to struggle with him to get it out of his hands. At one point, they used a Taser to stun the man into submission, but it did not strike the suspect, police said. Two officers then discharged one round each, striking the suspect about the body, he noted.
Paramedics brought the man to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity was not released pending the ongoing investigation.
