NYPD Officer Fatally Shot Woman Who Allegedly Lunged At Police With Knife

A photograph of the knife

A 54-year-old woman was fatally shot in her Queens home by a police officer responding to a 911 call on Monday evening. NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said the woman "came at the officers with a knife and lunged at them," prompting one of the officers to fire at her three times, hitting her in the torso.

The victim was identified by her boyfriend as Susan Muller. "One of the officers gave direction to put the knife down," Shea said during a press conference, noting that the woman was holding a 10-inch kitchen knife. "We know this because there was body camera video." He added, "It appears at this time, preliminarily, the 911 caller and the female was again one in the same."

Two patrol cars responded to a 911 call about a burglary in progress at 52-14 69th Street in Maspeth just after 5:30 p.m. According to Shea, the woman who was shot first "directed the officers to the second floor upstairs apartment at that address. She also told the officers that she believed there was a female intruder in the home armed with a knife or a razor. The police officers entered the home to conduct a search for the intruder. As the officers were searching the home, the 54-year-old female that had met them in front and said that she called 911, entered the home behind the officers."

At that point, Muller allegedly brandished the knife at officers, leading to the officer's shooting. Shea said 50 seconds elapsed between the time the officers entered the apartment and the gunfire.

Muller died at the scene, and her boyfriend, Edward Rogers, told reporters that she had been delusional during the day and suggested alcohol may have been a factor. One neighbor, Kevin Tang, told CBS 2 there was often a commotion coming from their home: "They yelled a lot. I heard them yell pretty frequently. They did keep to themselves. They just didn’t keep the noise to themselves."

Tang also told the Daily News, "She’d usually start a lot of fights with (him). The police have come a few times. The police and an ambulance came a few days ago."

"There is a history of calls to this location," Chief of Detectives Shea said.

"I remember her as a very caring and lovable person and I could not see her getting volatile with the police, but I wasn't here when it happened," Rogers told reporters. According to WABC 7, "Rogers says that he does not fault police or question their response."

"[Rogers] said she had become upset earlier in the day because a pharmacist didn’t want to fill her prescription for painkillers for her knee, but added he wasn't sure why she called police because he wasn't home at the time," NBC New York reports.