Suspect who fired shot at police in Harlem during standoff dead from self-inflicted gunshot wound
By WABC Staff
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HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) — Police say a man who fired shots at officers as they responded to his Harlem apartment Wednesday is dead.
Police said 23-year-old Antonio Armstrong appears to have sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head inside his West 147th Street apartment.
NYPD officers were serving a parole warrant when the suspect fired at least one shot at them, they said.
Police set up a perimeter around the scene and called in negotiators.
“They encountered an individual who fired at our officers. We have at least one officer that returned fire,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
Residents were asked to in place while police worked to resolve the situation.
Armstrong was wanted for questioning in a fatal shooting in Harlem last month.
The gunman in that case shot into a crowd in front of 45 West 139th Street in the early morning hours of September 13. Menkie Woodard-Collins, 24, was shot in the head and died.
Armstrong had an open assault warrant for attacking a woman, striking her in the back of the head, and for criminal contempt.
Separately, he punched a woman in the jaw on the Lower East Side in February 2020. He also has a prior arrest for drug possession with intent to sell in January 2020.
“Negotiators began a dialogue with the suspect, over time the suspect did not respond,” said Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, NYPD. “Emergency services unit were able to gain a visual inside the apartment. The suspect appeared to be lying on the ground inside the living room. The officers then entered the apartment and observed the suspect was motionless on the floor. The individual appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Harrison added that Armstrong’s firearm was recovered from inside the apartment.
There was also a woman inside the apartment at the time. Harrison said that they believe she had a relationship with Armstrong. She is safe at this time.
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