Brooklyn Man Shot 12 Times by NYPD Was Linked to 3 Open Homicide Investigations

Brooklyn, New York, on September 13, 2024, at approximately 5:21 p.m., members of the New York City Police Department’s Brooklyn North Warrant Squad entered an apartment at 485 East 21st Street to serve a bench warrant. Officers encountered 38-year-old Vilmond Jean-Baptiste hiding fully clothed in the shower of a bathroom while holding a knife.

Officers issued repeated commands for Jean-Baptiste to drop the knife, with at least 11 such instructions recorded. A sergeant deployed a Taser that proved ineffective. Jean-Baptiste threw a bottle toward the officers, then advanced from the shower still holding the knife. Three officers discharged their service weapons, striking him a total of 12 times. Officers handcuffed him, removed the knife, and provided aid including CPR. He was transported to Kings County Hospital and pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. Toxicology results showed active cocaine and THC in his blood. A knife was recovered at the scene.

Jean-Baptiste’s criminal history included a 2015 arrest for reckless endangerment and an open bench warrant issued September 13, 2022, He was also listed as a suspect, via an NYPD I-card without probable cause for arrest, in three open Brooklyn homicide investigations from summer 2024 involving stabbings: a woman and a 24-year-old man whose bodies were found in a Ditmas Avenue apartment in July, and 66-year-old Claudette Jones found in an East 56th Street apartment in August.

The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation reviewed body-worn camera footage, police reports, interviews, and evidence. It concluded the officers’ use of deadly force was justified under New York law and declined to pursue charges.

Sources: New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation report and press releases; NYPD statements.