NYC man, 78, fatally shot by NYPD known as ‘nice’ guy who carried gun
An elderly Brooklyn man whom cops fatally shot Thursday was a “really nice guy” who was known for packing a firearm, neighbors said Friday.
“He would let a lot of homeless people into the building, but he was otherwise a really nice guy,” said neighbor Raymond Weiss, 35. “He was very personable. When his cat died, he asked me if I want his toys and his cat stuff.”
“[His death] makes no sense to me,” he added.
The 78-year-old man, whose name was not released, was shot Thursday inside 330 Lewis Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant as cops were going door to door to investigate a 911 report for burglary.
A building worker described the homeowner’s death as “uncalled for” but complained about the “headaches” caused by a lady friend who would visit the man.
“It was horrible for the rest of the tenants,” the workers said, adding he was known for having a firearm in the apartment.
Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey said body-worn cameras captured the man holding a firearm when he answered the door for police and “charged” at officers when they told him to drop the weapon.
The building worker told The Post that “somebody was trying to rob him, and he called the nephew to call the police.”
“They [officers] showed up, but he ended up pulling the gun out at the cops instead of the person who was trying to rob him,” the building worker said.
“Possibly a mistake, because somebody was trying to get into his apartment. He pointed the gun at the cops. That’s what we saw in the video,” he added.
Maddrey called the incident “tragic” in the hours after the shooting and said the NYPD Force Investigations Division Unit would investigate.
The New York Attorney General’s Office said Thursday evening the agency had opened a probe into the shooting as the office does with any fatal police encounter.
