NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- New York police accidentally killed a man who was trying to protect his girlfriend from an ex-boyfriend with a knife, officials said.
Officers fired 18 shots during the confrontation Monday night in an apartment in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, police said. Ten hit their intended target, Francisco Carvajal, 47, and one struck Rafael Laureano, 51.
Police originally reported that Laureano had been stabbed but acknowledged Wednesday he had been hit by a police bullet. Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis said police opened fire because Carvajal was "coming at the officers with a knife."
"It was very close quarters," Davis said.
Laureano helped police break down the door to the apartment, where Katarzyna Russo had shut herself in the bathroom with her two children.
Davis said a sergeant tried to hold Laureano back after he and the officers got into the apartment but he rushed to help Russo.
