Is Brooklyn Dangerous? In New York City, 2 Men Killed By Police Within 8 Hours

Police shot and killed two men in unrelated incidents Tuesday night in Brooklyn, New York. The killings occurred within 8 hours of one another, according to local reports Wednesday.

Eighteen-year-old Joshua Martino was killed in the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn around 3:30 a.m. local time after he had fired his weapon into a nightclub in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police pursued Martino after officers heard the sound of gunshots from the Bee Hive Night Club on Atlantic Ave in downtown Brooklyn. They shot and killed Martino after he had allegedly pointed his gun toward the officers. A .38 caliber handgun was found at the crime scene, according to police.

Also on Tuesday night, Brooklyn police officers killed a 63-year-old man on the city’s south side who was reportedly emotionally disturbed and threatening people with a kitchen knife at his home.

The man’s sister, who originally called 911, let the police into the house around 9:40 p.m. local time. When the man, James Owens, spotted the officers, he lunged at them with the 13-inch knife, prompting the police to shoot and kill him.

One of the officers claimed to have fired a Taser at the victim but it “didn’t make complete contact.” Then, another policeman fatally issued three gunshots to the man’s face, neck and chest.

The New York City Police Department recently addressed its use of non-lethal means to quell a violent situation when dealing with someone who had been suffering with mental illness. On the morning after police officers shot and killed 66-year-old Deborah Danner on Oct. 19, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill told local reporters that his officers had “failed.”

"We do have policies and procedures for handling emotionally disturbed people and it looks like some of those procedures weren't followed," O’Neill said.

A significant decline in gang-related violence resulted in New York City seeing the least amount of reported shootings in 2016 in more than 25 years, the New York Times reported Tuesday. There were 412 gang-related shootings in 2016, compared to 560 in 2015, according to data recorded through Dec. 28 both years. There were 79 gang-related killings in 2016, where 2015 witnessed 129.

The most dangerous neighborhood in New York City in 2015 was reportedly Harlem in the northern part of the city, which saw 19 assaults that year.