Sept. 7 (UPI) — Police in New York City fatally shot a knife-wielding man who slashed an officer in the face after entering a police precinct early Sunday, authorities said.
The suspect, who was not identified, was shot multiple times by several officers in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn and pronounced dead at a local hospital, authorities said.
Chief of Patrol Phillip Rivera of the New York Police Department told reporters during a press conference that the suspect entered the front of the 73rd Precinct station house at about 5:24 a.m. EDT Sunday, but left shortly after attempting to enter a locked door without interacting with any police officers.
The suspect then went to the back of the building, which is restricted to NYPD personnel, and entered via an unlocked door, he said.
There, he was confronted by an officer who told the suspect that if he needed assistance, he needed to use the front door.
“Then he took out a large butcher knife and began attacking the officer,” Rivera said.
The officer sustained a slash wound to the face, Rivera said, adding that she was able to fight off her assailant, who then ran out of the precinct.
Rivera said an officer shot the suspect with a Taser, but to little effect, leading the police on a foot chase to Park Place and Saratoga Avenue, where he lunged at a pursuing officer with the 14-inch knife.
“Several officers discharged their firearms and the male was struck numerous times,” he said.
The police-involved shooting is under investigation.
The injured officer sustained superficial wounds to the face and was expected to be discharged from the hospital soon, he said.
“This incident certainly could have turned out very differently,” he said. “An individual walked into a known NYPD building with a large knife and attacked one of our officers. Every day our officers put on these uniforms they encounter dangerous situations out in the street, but it’s another kind of danger when someone comes directly into the precinct armed with a knife and attacks our officers.”
LOCALS in “Britain’s most dangerous” say it has become overrun with knife-wielding kids who are making their lives hell.
In a children’s playground at 2pm on a weekday afternoon, two masked drug dealers bear down on our photographer, spitting threats.
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A hooded young man approached our photographer at Ayresome Gardens childrens play areaCredit: North News & Pictures Ltd
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The remains of a trolley and fire outside homes in the Hemlington area of MiddlesbroughCredit: NNP
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Middlesbrough town centre – where crime is on the riseCredit: North News & Pictures Ltd
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The two young men questioned what our reporter for was doingCredit: North News & Pictures Ltd
The two young men had seen him taking pictures in the town centre park and wanted to make sure they didn’t appear in them, one putting on a balaclava and the second pulling up the hood of his jacket.
After threatening to smash up his equipment, one of them explained the reason they were there.
“We’re here to f*** up your society by selling drugs to the white boys,” he snarls.
It’s an alarming – but perhaps not surprising – welcome to Middlesbrough, the Teesside town which now has the unenviable status of “Britain’s most dangerous”.
New Home Office statistics reveal that the town suffered 158 crimes per 1,000 people – or to put it another way, one person in six was the victim of crime in the past year.
The Community Safety Partnership stats show Middlesbrough was eclipsed only by Westminster (423 crimes per 1,000) and Camden (195) – although both have much higher populations.
After encountering the town centre drug dealers, The Sun went to the crime-plagued Hemlington estate on the south western edge of the town to speak to locals.
The hot topic of the day was the suspension of bus routes to some parts of the estate due to stone and brick attacks by children aged as young as 10.
And another community facility, the Cleveland Huntsman pub, had just had its licence revoked after a man was allegedly stabbed and slashed in an altercation following a spate of criminal damage at the premises.
A number of knife-related cases from recent months are heading through the courts, including the murder of 28-year-old Jordan Hogg.
Our once-booming town has become a benefits sinkhole where HALF of adults are out of work & bored, feral kids set homes alight with fireworks
Four men and two youths deny stabbing him to death in the bleak Fonteyn Court.
It was also on Fonteyn Court that a 19-year-old man was stabbed on August 11 at 5.20pm – and within five minutes a 21-year-old man suffered the same fate on nearby Dalwood Court.
There was a weary acceptance from locals.
“It’s sickening but at the same time it’s just bog standard,” says one elderly woman who stops to chat on Fonteyn Court.
The kids are carrying knives before they’ve left primary school and they learn from the older lads how to use them, the number of stabbings is out of control.
Resident in Fonteyn Court
“The kids are carrying knives before they’ve left primary school and they learn from the older lads how to use them, the number of stabbings is out of control.
“I’d say we need more bobbies, but they have no respect for authority. I mean, just look around you.”
She has a point. The street is split around 50/50 between occupied and boarded up houses. Disconcertingly, voices can be heard coming from behind some of the green shutters.
Mattresses are dumped on pavements and the remains of torched wheelie bins, sofas and shopping trolleys litter the deserted green areas where children might once have played.
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Discarded mattresses in Fonteyn Court, Hemlington, an area which is a crime hotspot in the townCredit: NNP
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Residents say kids are carrying knives before they’ve left primaryCredit: NNP
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Many locals are worried to leave their homes in parts of the townCredit: NNP
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The one rare sign of cheer is that someone has placed a giant paddling pool at the centre of a grassy areaCredit: NNP
The one rare sign of cheer is that someone has placed a giant paddling pool at the centre of a grassy area, a hosepipe leading through the back gate of a neighbouring house.
People are loath to speak publicly for fear of reprisals, but one shopkeeper tells us “feral” kids are at the centre of the problems.
“You can see them lining up at the side of the road to bomb the buses with bricks,” he says.
“Some of them are tiny little kids, screaming and swearing as they chuck stones.”
Police travelling undercover on buses
The situation became so bad that officers from Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Policing Team travelled undercover on buses in the area, leading to the arrest of a 10-year-old boy on suspicion of four counts of criminal damage and three counts of causing danger to road users.
He was later referred to the Youth Offending Team while another boy aged 14 was identified and dealt with for separate offences.
Middlesbrough Council identified a further 10 kids involved in nuisance behaviour, with home visits and “diversionary activity referrals” doles out to their parents.
Acting Inspector Des Horton, from Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “This operation not only helps us to identify those involved in these incidents, but also allows us to build up intelligence and provide reassurance to the drivers of the buses that are being targeted.”
In an unconnected incident, two teenagers have been charged with attempted murder after a 17-year-old was stabbed in the estate’s Phoenix Park in May.
And on August 14, a dozen police vehicles swarmed the estate after a police officer was injured as he responded to reports of a man in possession of a knife.
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A hooded youth in Ayresome Gardens childrens play areaCredit: NNP
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Rubbish bags piled up outside homesCredit: NNP
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Wailan Lau says the number of stabbings are ‘completely out of control’Credit: NNP
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John Clark, 85, worries for young members of his family living in the townCredit: NNP
An arrest was made following a five-hour stand-off in which cups, bricks and chairs were hurled in the direction of emergency workers.
Chinese takeaway owner Wailan Lau, 48, has lived in Hemlington for the past 25 years.
He told The Sun: “It has got worse and worse over the years, the number of stabbings we see now is completely out of control, it never used to be like this.
“Where I live is fine, I have the same neighbours I have had for years and it is a proper community, everyone looks out for each other.
“But some parts of the estate are just dangerous, so much so that buses and taxis will not go down those streets.
“A lot of the problems we face are down to drugs and in a lot of cases it is drug dealers fighting drug dealers, but sometimes innocent people get caught up in that, which is scary.
“Kids seem to carry knives all the time and the ones who do are getting younger.
“It’s sad to see this town become one of the worst places in the country for crime because it’s a good place full of good people, unfortunately parts of it have become dangerous.”
Asked whether he knew anyone who had recently been a victim of crime, 17-year-old Harvey Wilson initially shook his head and then suddenly remembered: “Oh yeah, I was held at knifepoint.”
The casual way he recounts a terrifying encounter is chilling.
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Harvey Wilson, 17, described how he’d been robbed at knifepointCredit: NNP
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Certain crimes continue to rise in MiddlesbroughCredit: NNP
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A sign warning customers to ‘please remove hoods when entering shop’Credit: NNP
Harvey, who hopes to become a carpet fitter when he finishes his studies, said: “I’d just gone for a walk near Albert Park in the town and two lads stopped me and pulled a knife.
“Thankfully I’d left my phone at home and didn’t have any money so they just walked away.
“I’ve been able to forget it pretty quickly but I suppose it is quite scary how many people carry knives. I never would but people do.
“There are areas where you know not to go and if you keep yourself to yourself you probably won’t get any trouble, it’s the people who try to make a name for themselves who end up getting hurt.
“If your name gets known you’ll end up getting hurt.”
Things are getting worse and there are way too many young kids getting killed and injured with knives or getting involved with drugs.
John Clark, 82Middlesbrough resident
In the Parkway Centre, just outside Hemlington, John Clark, 82, reflects on the change in his home town over the course of his lifetime.
He started his working life as a hand rammer making sand castings at steel foundry on the river Tees.
John said: “That was my life, working in steel works and foundries and all of that has gone, there’s nothing left of the industry that built the town and that’s a big part of its problems.
“When I was a kid we had prospects and there was work to pay us a wage and keep us occupied, now the young people have nothing.”
He nods down at his young grandson in the buggy he’s leaning on and says: “I don’t worry for myself when I go about in Middlesbrough but I worry for him and younger members of the family.
“Things are getting worse and there are way too many young kids getting killed and injured with knives or getting involved with drugs.
“The brand new sports shop near us got ram raided the other night as soon as it opened by people in flatbed trucks. The place was left in a right mess and he lost all his new stock.”
Rebecca Green, 40, agreed that poverty plays a part in MIddlesbrough’s crime epidemic.
She said: “We live in a part of the world that has high levels of deprivation and that feeds the crime rate, when people are struggling to live they do desperate things.”
Student Shay Thorpe, 18, hopes to be a social worker.
“I’d move away if I could,” she says. “Even though I have always lived here, there are some parts of the town that I wouldn’t go.
“The town centre is scary and you can see from looking round that there’s a major drug problem there.”
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Shay Thorpe, 18, says she would move away if she couldCredit: NNP
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Shuttered up shops in Middlesbrough town centreCredit: NNP
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A person speaks to cops outside Poundland in the town centreCredit: North News & Pictures Ltd
A JUDGE who controversially allowed a knife-wielding drug dealer to stay in the UK was on the board of a pro-asylum charity.
Fiona Beach declared Christian Quadjovie, 26, was not a threat to the public.
The French-born crook had been locked up for a total of 963 days since arriving here aged ten in 2009.
But he was granted a reprieve by Judge Beach, an ex-director at Asylum Aid who represented migrants for free on behalf of the Bail for Immigration Detainees charity.
The decision has since been overturned after Government lawyers claimed her judgment was “made against the weight of evidence”.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said Judge Beach’s apparent conflict of interest “undermines confidence” in the courts.
He added: “This is the latest example of an immigration judge with open borders views.
“The similarity between her decisions and the political views she has broadcast totally undermines confidence in the system. Judges must be independent.”
Last night, in a letter seen by The Sun on Sunday, Mr Jenrick made a formal request to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office to probe whether Judge Beach, 54, had declared her previous roles.
In 2005 and 2007, she was listed in a “thank you” section of the Bail in Immigration annual report, and named as a barrister volunteering to represent its clients in court.
Records show she was a director of Asylum Aid between September 2004 and February 2007.
Judicial sources insisted she stepped back from the group in December 2006 when appointed as a part-time judge.
Sun probe uncovers asylum seekers in hotels linked to string of rape cases
In 2018 she was made a salaried tribunal judge. She first heard Quadjovie’s case in April 2024.
He was first convicted as a boy of 12 after sexually assaulting a girl under 13.
In 2016, he was given a nine-month referral order for carrying a knife in public.
Later that year, he was convicted of drug offences. He was detained for 30 months and caught with more drugs after his release.
The Home Office tried to deport him but he argued he would not be able to reintegrate in France.
A judiciary spokesman said all judges took an oath to remain impartial.
He added: “In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented, and apply the law as it stands.”
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A judge declared Christian Quadjovie was not a threat to the public
HOME Office bosses have scrapped a plan to get a trendy research company to award them marks out of ten for returning asylum seekers — thanks to the Sun on Sunday.
The department gave The Social Agency a deal worth almost £250,000 to carry out an “evaluation of asylum returns policy”.
It was agreed shortly after PM Sir Keir Starmer revealed his one-in, one-out deal with France to remove small boat migrants.
But after The Sun on Sunday asked for comment on why so much was being spent on the review, bosses axed it.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This particular contract was not approved at the right level and is therefore being withdrawn.”
Contract details emerged as the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats since Labour took power last summer passed 50,000.
The Social Agency, based in Hackney, East London, was initially awarded £237,786 over the 32-month deal, which was to run ran from this month until March 2028.
