Gun-wielding man shot and killed by NYPD in Brooklyn

The officers who first arrived at the Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights engaged with a man who had been shot and was told by residents that the suspect was close by, according to the New York Post.

Officers found a suspect with a gun hiding behind a tree one block away on Bergen Street.

At that point, "the officers gave orders for the male to drop the weapon for over a minute," but the suspect would not comply, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said at a press briefing.

Officers were not the only ones asking the man to drop his weapon, bystanders were also encouraging the man to comply with the directive.

Around 10 uniformed officers opened fire, he added.

It was initially unclear how many times the suspect was shot, but it has been reported that 19 shots were fired by the authorities. The suspect was declared dead at a hospital nearby.

Monahan went on to say that the police-involved shooting was captured by the officer's body cameras, where both officers and residents could be heard pleading with the suspect to drop the weapon.

The man who was shot in the leg by the suspect was taken to the hospital and was reported to be in stable condition by the police.

Monahan did qualify the incident by saying that it was not part of the "ongoing protests."

A suspect who only went by the name Champ said he witnessed police helping a man who had been shot in the leg when gunfire rang out.

"Then I got the hell out of dodge," he said.

Champ also said there were not protests around and that the shooting "totally isolated."

Four minutes after Monahan had tweeted that authorities were at the scene of the crime, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio posted a tweeted that said: "At Barclays Center now. Very calm situation. So far, the curfew is certainly helping, based on everything I’ve seen in Brooklyn and Manhattan over the last three hours."

A few NYPD officers were reported to have sustained minor injuries.

De Blasio has not commented publicly on the shooting, or on the fact that protestors did not adhere to the 8 p.m. curfew put in place to curb unlawful behaviour in New York City.