NEW YORK CITY — A patient who was killed by police Thursday was armed with a jagged piece of a broken toilet seat and was threatening others.
NYPD officers responded to multiple calls around 5:30 p.m. of a violent man armed with a sharp object on the eighth floor of New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, CBS reports. The man, identified as 62-year-old Michael Lynch, had checked himself into the hospital the day prior.
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When officers arrived, Lynch had cut himself with the sharp object, which was later determined to be a piece of toilet seat that he broke off. He then barricaded himself in a room with an unarmed security guard and an elderly patient. Officers said there was blood splattered on the floor, walls, and exterior of the door. Staff members said Lynch also threatened to harm others and to kill staff members.
NYPD Assistant Chief Charles Minch said during a press conference that body camera footage shows officers ordered the man to drop the object for more than three minutes. The suspect then stepped towards officers with the weapon, and they “simultaneously deployed a Taser and discharged a firearm.” The Taser was ineffective and the gunfire missed.
Lynch then partially shut the door and said, “I’m going to kill these people,” according to police. When the door opened again, he allegedly advanced towards the officers with the weapon. Officers tried using a Taser two more times but it did not work, prompting them to open fire. He was pronounced dead a short time later. NYPD shared a photo of the “self-made” bloody weapon on social media.
“This situation could have turned out very differently,” Minch said. “Everyday our officers put on their uniforms, they never know what kind of dangerous situation they are going encounter. That is the risk that every member of the NYPD faces every single day to keep this city safe.”
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The hospital security staff member was evaluated following the incident and the elderly patient was not hurt.
Lynch, a former police officer, had no criminal record. ABC reports that he resigned from the NYPD in the 1990s for unknown reasons.
