Police Shoot Man in Midtown Manhattan During Rush Hour
A female bystander was injured in the incident.
— -- A 46-year-old man was shot dead by police in midtown Manhattan this morning after the suspect was reportedly assaulting or threatening someone with a knife.
Officers responded to the call and confronted the suspect. One of the police officers sustained an apparent slash wound and is being treated for the nonthreatening injury.
The suspect was identified by the NYPD as Gary Conrad, a unionized stagehand employed by a subcontractor doing work for the Broadway show "The Book of Mormon" at Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
A police sergeant and officer fired nine shots at the suspect. His knife, with a 4-inch blade, was recovered at the scene, police said.
The shooting took place after 8:20 a.m. in front of a Food Emporium grocery store on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, just a few blocks from Times Square.
NYPD Chief James O'Neill said that the suspect got into an altercation with a Food Emporium cashier when he was trying to buy beer.
"He got very aggressive and belligerent," O'Neill said.
A police officer on foot patrol was alerted to the man, and other officers were called to the scene. The man "began to struggle with the officer, and he fell to the ground outside the store," O'Neill said.
A female bystander was also injured during the incident, sustaining a graze wound from one of the shots fired at the suspect.