A New York City police sergeant shot and killed a 22-year-old man armed with a loaded semi-automatic handgun in a prostitution sting gone wrong, authorities said Friday.
Tyjuan Hill was struck once in the back of the head by a 32-year-old sergeant involved in the sting targeting johns on Thursday night in Brooklyn. Hill was pronounced dead at the scene. Police recovered a loaded handgun, but Hill did not fire, said Paul Browne, chief New York Police Department spokesman.
The shooting occurred during a sting operation known as Operation Losing Proposition at about 11 p.m. Thursday. An undercover officer was posing as a prostitute in a desolate warehouse area under a highway on the cusp of Red Hook and Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn when four men in a car approached her and solicited sex, police said.
Officers moved in to arrest them and told them to get out of their car. All four did, but then Hill fled on foot.
He eventually was grabbed by officers, and during the struggle to arrest him, officers tried to use pepper spray but it didn't subdue him, Browne said. Hill drew his left hand with the loaded gun, and the sergeant fired once, he said. The gun Hill had in his hand was reported stolen from Wheeling, W.Va. in 2009. Hill had been on parole until 2015 on a robbery conviction stemming from a 2007 arrest. He had been released from prison in February after two years.
The three others in the car were in custody and may be charged with solicitation, police said.
The operation has netted about 1,000 arrests in 220 vehicles.
Local
The sergeant who fired was placed on desk duty pending a district attorney review of the shooting, followed by a departmental review. He has been on the job since 2004 and has not been involved in any prior shootings.
