BROOKLYN — Police fatally shot two armed men — one of whom they described as mentally ill — in separate incidents about six hours apart in Brooklyn Tuesday night into early Wednesday, officials said.
In the first incident, a woman called 911 shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to ask for help with her non-violent, emotionally disturbed brother inside of the apartment they shared on East 99th Street near Avenue J, police said.
Officers responded and found 63-year-old James Owens in the rear of the house, the NYPD said.
"As the officers entered, the male emerged from a back room and retrieved a 13-inch knife from the kitchen and advanced toward the officers," NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan said.
One of the officers used a Taser on him, but it did not touch Owens' skin and had no effect, Monahan said.
"The male continued to advance toward the officers with the knife, and a second officer discharged his firearm and requested an ambulance," the chief said.
That’s when another officer opened fire, wounding Owens. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
About six hours later, a plainclothes sergeant and two other plainclothes NYPD officers from the anti-crime unit were on patrol in Prospect Heights when they saw Joshua Martino, 18, firing a gun into of B-Hive lounge at 990 Atlantic Ave., near Grand Avenue, about 3:40 a.m., the NYPD said.
The officers exited their vehicle and identified themselves to the suspect, but Martino took off running, police said.
Martino then turned on the officers with his gun in hand, officials said. The two police officers discharged their weapons and struck the 18-year-old in the torso, Monahan said.
Martino was taken to Brooklyn Hospital where he died, police said.
"In both incidents, cops were confronted with deadly weapons and they took action," Monahan said Wednesday morning at a crime briefing held at the Brooklyn Museum.
A .38 caliber revolver was recovered at the Atlantic Avenue shooting, he said, and investigations are ongoing for both incidents.
Owens' death comes less than three months after the controversial shooting of Deborah Danner, 66, a mentally-ill Bronx woman whom an NYPD sergeant shot to death after she hit him with a baseball bat.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said after that shooting, "Deborah Danner should be alive right now. Period."
