Harlem Man Shot By NYPD Will Face Charges, Police Say

HARLEM, NY — A 34-year-old man who was shot by police officers in the hallway of his apartment building will face charges, an NYPD spokesman said.

Michael Cordero, who was shot Tuesday night in his West 114th Street building, has been charged with burglary, menacing, criminal contempt, marijuana possession and third-degree criminal weapons possession.

Officers arrived at an apartment building on West 114th Street near Frederick Douglass Boulevard and were told by a witness that a man on the fourth floor had a gun, police said. After taking the building's elevator to the fourth floor, the officers encountered a man who "fit the description" provided by the witness.

When officers told the man to take his hands out of his pockets, he refused and stated that he was armed, NYPD Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said Tuesday. Officers shot the man when he pointed an object at them in a "shooting stance," Harrison said.

Video released by the NYPD on Wednesday seems to confirm the account. The man shot by police is seen walking toward officers (who are off-camera) before reaching into his pockets and pulling out a black object. Bullets can be seen hitting the hallway's walls behind the man as he reacts to being shot in the thigh.

Police did not confirm what sort of object the man pointed at the officers, but made no mention of a gun or other weapon recovered from the scene. Family members have since said the object pointed by Cordero was a wallet and that the man suffers from mental illness, CBSNewYork reported.

"Michael never had a gun. The NYPD should have approached Michael in a different form and manner," Cordero's father Salvador Cordero said, as reported by CBSNewYork. "The NYPD 28th Precinct have a history of Michael’s mental illness for more than two, three years."

Watch the video released by the NYPD below: