August 18, 2025 Washington Heights, NY — An off-duty NYPD officer shot and killed a man who had pulled a gun on him late Sunday night in Manhattan’s Washington Heights, authorities said. The incident, which unfolded rapidly, highlights the split-second life-and-death decisions law enforcement officers face, even when they’re not on duty.
The officer, whose identity has not yet been released, was outside a building on West 173rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue around 9:45 p.m. when two men on mopeds approached him. According to Deputy Chief Eric Pagan, one of the men, a 30-year-old, brandished a firearm and asked the officer if he knew a person by a specific name.
In a moment of intense danger, the officer drew his own weapon and fired several shots, striking the armed man in the chest. Officials reported that the officer, despite being a potential victim just moments earlier, immediately attempted to perform life-saving measures on the man he had just shot. Meanwhile, the second suspect on the moped fled the scene.
The 30-year-old man was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition but was later pronounced dead. The officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was also treated at the hospital. A .9mm firearm was recovered at the scene.
