Valley Stream man shot by police after stabbing in Brooklyn

A man who is reportedly from Valley Stream was shot and killed by New York City police officers after he allegedly stabbed an Israeli student in a Brooklyn synagogue early Tuesday morning.

The attacker, identified as Calvin Peters, 49, entered the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn at roughly 1:40 a.m. and stabbed Levi Yitzchak Rosenblat , a 22-year-old rabbinical student from Beitar Illit, Israel, in the head, according to police. Rosenblat was listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital as the Herald went to press Tuesday night.

Police responded after a witness alerted a patrol officer in the area. Police confronted Peters in a tense standoff before shooting him. He, too, was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A partial video of the attack was posted to YouTube on Monday. As the video begins, Peters can be seen standing near two men in the synagogue. Peters yells at them, “Are you cool? Are you cool, yes or no? Tell me, are you cool, [inaudible], tell me yes or no, tell me unless you want me to kill you [inaudible].”

Police arrive on the scene, and can be seen drawing their guns. “Do you want me to kill you?” Peters says to the officers.

A man from the synagogue can be seen standing off to the side of the confrontation. He asked officers not to shoot. “No, officer he won’t do it, he won’t do it, don’t shoot,” the man says.

Police give Peters multiple orders to drop the knife.

“I will drop the knife,” he says.

“Drop it,” police respond.

“But I’m cool [inaudible]. Are you sure, police, are you sure?” Peters says. “I’m asking you, do you want me to kill someone here, yes or no, [inaudible]? Are you going to kill me?”

“If you don’t drop the knife, I will,” one officer responds. Peters complies, and multiple voices can be heard yelling before he picks it up again.

Police order him to “stand up, hands up,” before Peters again grabs the knife. Police tell him, “Drop the knife” repeatedly as he approaches them slowly.

There is more yelling as the police and Peters disappear from the video’s frame. A single gunshot is heard before the video ends.

The officers were transported to Methodist Hospital for trauma treatment, but no physical injuries, police said. The incident remains under investigation, but Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said it was not being regarded as a terrorism incident.

The New York Times reported that Peters’s sister, Cathleen St. Clair, of Baldwin, said that her family had been searching for him Monday night and that he was off his medication for bipolar disorder. She said the assault was out of character for him. Peters reportedly had a wife and children.