NBC New York
Police shot and killed a 66-year-old woman in a Bronx apartment on Tuesday after she allegedly tried to strike an officer with a baseball bat. The shooting occurred when a police sergeant responded to a call about the woman acting irrationally at her home in the Castle Hill neighborhood just after 6 p.m. The officer, identified by the New York Post as Sgt. Hugh Barry, reportedly found the woman alone and unclothed in a bedroom with a pair of scissors, and after he convinced her to drop them, she picked up a baseball bat and tried to attack him, police said. He fired his weapon twice and she died of her injuries. At a news conference after the incident, Assistant Chief Larry W. Nikunen, commanding officer of patrol for the Bronx, said police had responded to “several incidents involving this individual with similar types of calls” in the past, but he didn’t provide specifics. An investigation has been opened into the shooting, and it will seek to determine why the sergeant did not use the Taser he had in his possession. Nikunen said the sergeant was an eight-year veteran. In a tweet late Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote “we’re determined to get to the bottom of what happened and won’t rest until we do.” Additionally, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. called the incident “totally unacceptable.”