By The Diary
Sep 14, 2024, 08:47 AM EDT
Vilmond Jean Baptiste, a man wanted for several fatal stabbings, was shot dead by police officers yesterday in Brooklyn after he pulled out a knife while they were executing a search warrant, according to the NYPD.
The incident began shortly before 5:30 p.m. Friday inside an apartment on East 21st Street near Flatbush Avenue, police said at a news conference. As detectives searched a home, they found the 38-year-old suspect hiding in the bathtub.
Officers repeatedly told him to get out of the tub and show his hands, but they soon realized he was holding a knife, police said. A sergeant at the scene attempted to use a stun gun to subdue Baptiste, but it did not work.
Shortly afterward, Baptiste jumped out of the bathtub and walked toward the officers, at least three of whom fired. It was not immediately clear how many shots were fired, he said. NBC News.
Baptiste was subdued after being shot and taken to the hospital, where he died. Officers who were at the scene were also taken for evaluation.
Tensions are spilling over in Flatbush between neighbors and cops where NYPD allegedly fatally shot triple homicide suspect Vilmond Jeanbaptiste today. Neighbors claim the suspect never had a knife, as police maintain. pic.twitter.com/lhbCLo0jw7
— Dorian Geiger (@dgeigs) September 14, 2024
According to police, after Baptiste was taken outside, other people threw bottles at officers on the scene, saying the suspect was not armed as the NYPD claimed. One of the officers was hit in the head with a bottle and taken to the hospital.
Police were seeking Baptiste in connection with several fatal stabbings in Brooklyn over the summer: A 54-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were found stabbed to death in July, and a 66-year-old woman was found in August. It was unclear what role Baptiste may have played in those killings, but police considered him a person of strong interest in both incidents.
The case is under investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office, as happens when someone dies during an operation or in police custody.
In July, a 20-year-old man was fatally shot by the NYPD after allegedly killing his 8-year-old half-brother and stabbing the boy’s parents during a domestic dispute inside a Queens apartment.
Weeks later, a woman armed with a knife was shot dead in her home by police responding to a 911 call from her brother in New Jersey.
In June, a 46-year-old man suspected of shooting a young man in Harlem (NYC) was killed in a shootout with police at a nightclub in Woodbridge Township (NJ).
- Mother shot dead by police in domestic violence incident in New York: prosecutors release video a year later