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ASTORIA COP SHOOTS MACHETE-WIELDING
MAN IN DOMESTIC DISPUTE, NYPD SAYS
BY JULIA MORO, LLOYD MITCHELL
AND ROBERT POZARYCKI
A Queens cop shot and wounded
a man armed with a machete
Monday morning, April 11, while
responding to a domestic dispute,
according to the NYPD.
NYPD officers from the 114th
Precinct responded to a 911 call
in Astoria about an “emotionally
disturbed person armed with
a weapon,” at approximately
9:48 a.m. on April 11, according
to police.
The 911 caller told the operator
that she had repeatedly
asked the 27-year-old man, and
the father of their 3-year-old
child, to leave the apartment,
but he refused to do so. The man
had allegedly taken a lot of pills
and said he wanted to die, while
holding a machete, according to
sources.
Four officers responded to
the scene, near 33rd Street and
Broadway within minutes, explained
Chief of Department
Kenneth Corey.
“As officers were trying to
remove people from the apartment,
the male confronted them
in a narrow hallway, holding
the 911 caller’s mother,” said Corey
during an afternoon press
conference at the 114th Precinct
stationhouse in Astoria. “After
getting the older woman out of
Officials show a photo of the machete that was recovered by the NYPD. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
the apartment, the officers deployed
a taser. The taser had no
effect.”
One of the cops then fired
three gunshots, striking the
armed man in the groin area.
Officers immediately requested
an ambulance. According to
Corey, EMT was on the scene
within two minutes providing
“life-saving measures.”
“The male was removed to
Elmhurst Medical Center where
he is currently in surgery but
expected to recover,” Corey said.
“Two officers were removed to a
local hospital for medical evaluation.
No one else was struck by
gunfire and no other injuries
were reported.”
Police have placed the man
in custody, with charges pending
the results of an investigation.
According to Corey, the large
machete was recovered at the
scene. Corey also said that the
3-year-old child was present,
and officers will be required to
report this incident to the Administration
for Children’s Services.
“There is a rather extensive
domestic history between
the 911 caller and the subject,”
Corey said. “There have been
multiple allegations of domestic
assault, harassment, orders of
protection have been in effect.
Those orders have been violated
on multiple occasions.”
The subject also has a prior
arrest for assaulting a police officer,
according to Corey.
The officers were wearing
body cameras at the time of the
confrontation and the footage
will be reviewed as part of further
investigation.
The information provided by
the NYPD is preliminary and
subject to change as an investigation
continues.
Even so, the suspect’s girlfriend,
Brianna Cortez, 24,
told reporters on April 11 that
they “plan on suing the Police
Department.”
“What they did was unjust,”
she said.
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