NYPD officers fatally shot a man early Friday after he climbed the Brooklyn Bridge cables and lunged at them with a knife, officials said. The incident began around 3:28 a.m. when a 911 caller reported a man walking on the bridge beams. Officers from the Emergency Service Unit, including commanding officer Gerard Dowling, climbed onto the cables using safety harnesses. During an hour-long standoff, the man stated he had a bomb and wanted to die. He then rapidly descended a cable toward the officers, who retreated but could not match his speed. Within three feet of an officer, the man raised his arm and extended a knife. An officer fired, striking the man, who was lowered from the cables and taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated the man appeared to be attempting to jump. The NYPD will conduct an internal investigation and release body-camera footage. The bridge reopened by 8:30 a.m. This marks the ninth fatal police shooting in 2026, per the state attorney general's office, following a Times Square knife attack days earlier. In 2024, police shootings killed 14 people, up from seven in 2023. Two other high-profile bridge climbs occurred this summer, including a man who jumped from the north tower in August.