An NYPD officer shot and killed a man inside a Bronx apartment early Thursday morning after he refused to put down what appeared to be a gun, officials said.

Members of the NYPD’s Bronx warrant squad arrived at an apartment on Willis Avenue, near the Bruckner Boulevard in Mott Haven, around 6:45 a.m. to arrest 44-year-old Lucien Colon, who had active parole and bench warrants for failing to meet his reporting requirements as a New York state sex offender, police said.

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An NYPD officer shot and killed a man inside a Bronx apartment early Thursday morning, officials said

Police said they arrived to arrest Lucien Colon, who had active parole and bench warrants for failing to meet his reporting requirements as a New York state sex offender

Authorities said after Colon repeatedly refused to comply, one of the officers fired their gun, hitting him

“He’s a registered Level 3, and the requirements are that you report, you register yourself, and if you don’t register yourself, then you can be issued a warrant and arrested for that,” Deputy Chief John Wilson, commanding officer of the NYPD’s Fugitive Enforcement Unit, said at a press conference. “And he didn’t do that.”

After a woman gave the officers permission to enter, they found Colon sitting on a bed with what looked like a firearm in his hand, Wilson said.

“The subject was told to show his hands, to which he responded, ‘I have a gun,’” he said. “The officers ordered the male to step out of the room, to which he responded, ‘It’s not gonna happen.’”

Wilson said officers attempted to deescalate the situation, giving Colon “multiple commands” to drop the weapon.

“During this verbal interaction, which lasted for approximately a minute and a half, the officers showed extreme restraint and truly attempted to deescalate the situation,” he said.

After Colon repeatedly refused to comply, one of the officers fired their gun, hitting Colon, he added.

Colon was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, where he was pronounced dead, Wilson said. The officers involved were removed to an area hospital for evaluation.

NY1 spoke with Marivel Alicea Antionette outside the apartment building. She said she was Colon’s girlfriend of nearly two years, and told NY1 she let the officers into the apartment when they knocked on the door.

She said she and her dog were in the hallway when the shooting happened.

“Everything just happened quick,” she said. “He’s the one that woke me up, and he says, ‘Babe, go open the door.’ And when I go open the door, that’s when [the officers] push me. And the next thing I know, they’re pulling out a gun on my dog, and I’m in the bathroom with my dog, and they break in my bedroom door and they tell him to come out and, he’s saying no.”

“They pushed me out from one area to another area to where the stairs is at, and they shoved me in then that hallway. That’s when I heard the gunshots,” she added. “And I heard more than three to four, five gunshots in my apartment.”

Wilson said Colon had been on parole since 2023 for a murder that took place in 2013. Colon was listed as a sex offender for a 1997 rape, and was also arrested for attempted murder in 1995, he said.

A firearm was recovered from the scene of the shooting, Wilson said.

“We’re not sure yet if it’s a real gun or not — you know, obviously, we have to do a crime scene,” he said. “We’re not allowed to touch the gun until crime scene processes the scene, and we’re getting a search warrant, so that’s why we can’t confirm that yet, whether it’s a real gun or not. It’s potentially a BB gun, but we’re not sure.” 

The incident is being investigated by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division.