VIDEO: 'Shoot Me,' Bronx Man Yelled Before Cops Killed Him

THE BRONX, NY — A knife-wielding Bronx man demanded that cops shoot him in a tense altercation last month before the officers did just that, video footage of the incident shows. The NYPD released two videos Thursday from the cops' body cameras revealing the brief but dramatic Jan. 29 encounter that ended in Michael Hansford's death.

Two cops in the 48th Precinct found Hansford, 52, chasing another man with a knife outside his Prospect Avenue apartment building in the Belmont neighborhood just after 7:40 p.m. that evening, police said. He had just slashed his landlord in the shoulder after he was reportedly threatened with eviction, NYPD Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said last month.

The videos — one about 18 seconds long, the other 23 seconds — show the officers chasing Hansford with their guns drawn and shouting at him to drop his knife. They can be heard yelling the command more than 20 times between them before firing what sounds like six gunshots.

"Shoot me!" Hansford yelled back several times as he apparently brandished the knife, circled their police car, made his way to a sidewalk and started to walk toward the cops, who appear to be several feet away.

Those would be his last words. Hansford was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the NYPD said. Police recovered what they called a "combat-type" knife from the scene.

It's unclear from the footage what exactly prompted the officers to fire. At an unrelated news conference a day after the incident, Harrison said Hansford "lunged" at the cops. But in the videos, he appears to stop walking toward them just before he's shot.

Harrison had said in an earlier prepared statement that the cops fired after Hansford "turned towards" them.

A third voice can be heard in the background of the videos, but it's unclear what the person says.

The NYPD has not identified the officers involved. An investigation into the incident is still ongoing, a police spokesman said.

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said last month that he thinks the cops acted appropriately.

"I'm glad the police officers walked away from that encounter safely," O'Neill said. "It was a violent encounter."

The video is the fourth the NYPD has released since it started distributing body cameras to officers last spring. Three of the released videos show fatal shootings.

Watch the body camera footage below. (Warning: The video is graphic.)

(Lead image from NYPD video)