Officers fatally shoot man, injure woman in Brooklyn after car chase, NYPD says

A man was fatally shot Thursday afternoon after officers opened fire on a vehicle — also containing a baby and another adult — during a chaotic car chase in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, authorities said.

The incident began around 2:57 p.m. when police responded to reports of gunfire near the Whitman Houses in Fort Greene, police said. While investigating, the NYPD said officers were given a description of a vehicle with an out-of-state license plate hanging by a screw.

The vehicle was spotted shortly after at Fulton Street and Washington Avenue and officers began pursuing it eastbound on Fulton, authorities said. The car sped through Bed-Stuy, running red lights, before eventually being stopped around 3:30 p.m. at 178 Utica Ave. in Crown Heights, officials said.

NYPD officials described a chaotic situation during an evening press conference on Thursday, with officers surrounding the car, which was occupied by a woman driver and a man in the passenger seat. Police said the man pointed a firearm at officers, prompting them to open fire.

Authorities estimated that police fired 18 to 19 shots during the encounter.

"The men and women of this department are extremely brave. And tonight, we were extremely lucky because they were at very close range and that gun was definitely pointed at the officer," NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at the press conference Thursday.

The shooting stopped soon after an officer shouted “Baby! Baby!” and officers realized a small child was in the back seat, Maddrey said. Police quickly removed the child from the vehicle and began providing life-saving measures to the man, who was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, Maddrey said.

The female driver was apprehended, Maddrey said, after a brief foot chase and taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds to her right thigh. The man sustained multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

None of the officers were injured, officials said, and a semi-automatic weapon with an extended clip was recovered at the scene.

Maddrey said the male passenger was wanted for a homicide that occurred in March. Maddrey described the previous crime as a “particularly vicious homicide” that he had viewed on video. The NYPD on Friday confirmed the killing was that of 21-year-old Merv Smith at Belmont Avenue and Euclid avenues in East New York.

The baby was unharmed in the incident on Thursday night, police said. An investigation remains ongoing, Maddrey said.

In a statement Friday, the state Attorney General’s Office identified the male passenger as Christopher Ferguson. State law requires the Attorney General's Office to investigate the shooting in which a police officer may have cause a person's death.

Brittany Kriegstein contributed reporting. This story has been updated with additional information.