Cops fatally shoot suspect after stabbing at mentally ill center
Police fatally shot a knife-wielding man after he stabbed two security guards Monday in a Bronx home for the mentally ill, authorities said.
The two uniformed officers were responding to a report of two women stabbed at the Hughes House on Hughes Ave. and E. 178th St. in Tremont around 7:45 p.m., sources said.
Police arrived to find Cornell Lockhart, 67, in the lobby, and soon realized he had stabbed the two guards, who sources identified as Kathy Hope, 48, and Michelle Sutton, 29.
They ordered him to drop a 4-inch steak knife, but he refused, cops said.
“The officers repeated these commands more than 20 times. The armed man did not comply and instead stepped toward the officers with the knife displayed in his right hand,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan.
Both officers opened fire, hitting Lockhart several times.
Monahan said video footage recorded Lockhart as he stabbed the two guards. “The knife can stab and kill a person like it may (have) almost done to one of these security guards,” he said.
Police at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Hughes House on Hughes Ave. and E. 178th St. in the Bronx on Nov. 13, 2017. on Nov. 13th, 2017.
(Angus Mordant/for New York Daily News)
Lockhart, who lives at the Hughes House, went missing in August, police sources said. The precinct posted a photo of him on Twitter Aug. 26, but it’s not known when or how he returned.
Medics took him Lockhart to St. Barnabas Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
Sutton was stabbed in the arm, and Hope was knifed in the chest and arms. Both went to St. Barnabas with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
“She’s in stable condition,” said Hope’s son, Anthony. “The guy apparently missed her major artery in her arm.”
The 55-unit Hughes House is run by Urban Pathways, a nonprofit organization that offers supportive housing for mentally ill and homeless people.
“I was on the elevator coming downstairs and I heard someone arguing. They was arguing over something and that’s when I heard gunshots,” said Charleton Lucas, 28, who lives in the building. “I tried not to panic because I didn’t know what the situation was.”
Knife used by Cornell Lockhart when he was shot by NYPD police officers at the Hughes House on Hughes Ave. and E. 178th St. in the Bronx on Nov. 13, 2017.
(DCPI)
Tasha Carruthers, 27, who lives on the block, said she knew Lockhart as “Pops,” and that he regularly stood on a street corner nearby, asking for change.
“I don’t think he could cause any harm. We see him out there asking for change,” she said. “They didn’t have to shoot. … He probably was off his meds.”
Urban Pathways CEO Frederick Shack told The New York Times that Lockhart has lived in the building since 2011 and had a history of mental illness.
The shooting comes roughly a year after a Hughes House resident fatally stabbed a housemate in the neck, after the victim refused to lend him some money, according to authorities.
Perry Little, 70, died weeks after the Oct. 30 stabbing. Alleged attacker Marcus Graham, 47 remains jailed as he awaits prosecution on murder charges.
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