Mamdani calls on DA to not prosecute mentally ill man shot by police during knife attack

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Tuesday that he does not believe the Queens district attorney should prosecute a mentally ill man who was shot by police as he ran toward officers with a knife, arguing that the individual needs mental health treatment instead.

Jabez Chakraborty, 22, was holding a large kitchen knife and charged at the officers who responded to the emergency call from the family on Jan. 26, NYPD officials said. The officers repeatedly told him to drop it as they attempted to de-escalate the situation before one officer fired several times, striking Chakraborty, who was then taken to a hospital in critical condition.

The family had called 911 to report that Chakraborty was throwing glass at his home on Parsons Blvd. in Briarwood, NYPD officials said, according to the New York Daily News.

After the officers responded to the home, Chakraborty charged them with the knife, according to the NYPD. The officers repeatedly instructed him to drop the weapon and attempted to isolate him in the home’s living room by closing a glass doo...