SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) - A man who showed up at the offices of a newspaper in a dazed state was shot and wounded by two police officers Saturday after he charged at them with a knife.
The shooting happened just past 4 p.m. at the offices of the Daily Gazette after a quiet news day in Schenectady, a city of more than 60,000 just outside the state capital of Albany.
The newspaper said in a story posted on its website that the man appeared weak and possibly medicated when he arrived. He talked his way into the locked building by asking a security guard for a drink of water. Then, he refused to leave and began wandering the halls.
The man, who wasn't immediately identified by either the newspaper or police, eventually said he needed help. The newspaper's general manager called 911 when he saw that the intruder was carrying a knife and bleeding from his hand.
The Gazette said the two officers who responded tried repeatedly to get the man to drop the weapon.
"For five minutes they asked him to put the knife down," said Linda Eldeen, a friend of general manager Daniel Beck's who was at the office at the time. "He did start going at them. He looked like he was going to charge them."
Witnesses said the officers fired about five times when the man lurched at them from just a few feet away, still carrying the weapon.
He was still breathing when emergency responders carried him away on a stretcher, the Gazette reported.
Schenectady police Sgt. Matthew Dearing said police were still gathering information on what happened.