Knife-wielding man shot by NYPD outside East Harlem market

NEW YORK - A knife-wielding man was shot by police in East Harlem early Monday after authorities say he advanced toward officers with a weapon outside a grocery store.

What we know:

Police said the shooting happened just before 2 a.m. outside City Fresh Market on East 120th Street and Third Avenue.

According to investigators, the 53-year-old man had earlier gotten into an argument inside the store that escalated, leading employees to physically remove him.

Police said the man later returned to the location armed with a 13-inch kitchen knife, where surveillance video shows him banging on the store’s door.

Dig deeper:

Store employees called 911 and told dispatchers they had locked the doors to keep the man out, police said.

When officers arrived, they encountered the man outside the store. Authorities said officers issued multiple verbal commands for him to drop the knife and attempted to create distance, but the man advanced toward them with the weapon.

An officer then fired, striking the man in the lower right abdomen, police said.

The suspect was taken to Harlem Hospital in critical condition, where he was undergoing surgery Monday morning, authorities said. An officer was also taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Police said the man has a history of prior arrests and was known to law enforcement.

Investigators recovered approximately seven shell casings at the scene. 

The incident remains under investigation.