Mobile phone captures New York Police shoot dead a man who had flashed on Seventh Avenue

POLICE EXAMINE EVIDENCE AFTER SHOOTING DEAD A KNIFE-WIELDING DERANGED MAN WHO HAD FLASHED PEOPLE ON SEVENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY. PICTURE: MYFOXNY SUPPLIED

POLICE officers gunned down a backwards walking knife-wielding man, who had flashed at people, in broad daylight near Times Square, New York.

The firing of shots and the man's deranged behaviour sent terrified tourists running to safety.

The 30-year-old man was was shot several times. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, New York City, while having a heart attack and later died.

The unidentified man was fatally shot on Seventh Ave. after ignoring orders to drop his weapon - and then moving menacingly toward police, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

A witness said the suspect, who was walking backward for blocks, appeared impervious to police pepper spray and refused to surrender his 10-inch butcher knife.

"He looked like he was crazy,” Jobby Nogueras, 17, who joined a crowd of onlookers watching the strange showdown, told the Daily News.

"They sprayed him, and he kept going backwards."

Another witness, who said the man was African American, told The New York Post: "He came out of the subway and flashed two people. He tried to flash a cop, but then took off down Seventh Avenue. They were chasing him down. They cornered him between 37th and 38th and he was still waving his knife."

About 12 police officers swarmed the scene, he said.

Shocked tourists and New Yorkers who witnessed the scene Tweeted in shock.

“Waiting for the bus on 7th Ave, a wall of NYPD walking, WITH GUNS, chasing down a madman with knife,” a witness who went by the handle Sim Marshall tweeted. "1 block later. He was shot."

“I've been in NYC for 10 minutes and saw a man shot on 7th ave! Omg...." tweeted one.

Another witness, tweeting under the handle “NewYorkRangersFan” described the scene as a “nut running down 7th ave a a huge knife and cops chasing him [with] guns drawn,” and said police "shot him 5 times in the stomach."

orignal: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mobile-phone-captures-new-york-police-shoot-dead-a-man-who-had-flashed-on-seventh-avenue/story-e6frf7jo-1226448547922