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Victim allegedly confronted police officers with a knife
Nassau County detectives are investigating a police-related shooting that occurred in Point Lookout in which an officer shot and killed a former Queens College and Long Beach High School baseball star who allegedly confronted police with a knife as he attempted to flee his home.
The victim, Kurt Doerbecker, 20, of Bayside Drive, was shot by a police officer at about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday after police — who had responded to an emergency call regarding an intruder at a home on Lynbrook Drive — said he allegedly approached the officers with a 12-inch knife “in a threatening manner.”
“He came at the officer with definitely a knife … he was brandishing a knife as he approached them, and numerous orders were given to him to stop and drop the knife,” Nassau County police spokesman Det. Lt. Kevin Smith told the Herald at the scene. “But apparently he didn’t obey those orders, the threat continued and the officer had to fire. It appears that one or more shots stopped that individual. I don’t know the number of shots that struck him.”
Doerbecker’s parents could not be reached for comment, but told News 12 that their son was unarmed. An attorney for the Doerbeckers, William Petrillo, declined to comment.
Prior to the shooting, Smith said police had responded to the area earlier at 10:23 p.m. regarding a disturbance at the Buoy Bar on Bayside Drive. Police said that Doerbecker was kicked out of the bar at least two times earlier in the evening, and had returned for a third time and continued to alarm patrons and cause a disturbance.
“We get a call to the Buoy Bar, and apparently there is an individual in there who is causing a disturbance, he may be intoxicated and they want him out,” Smith said. “Apparently they kicked him out twice, and he came back a third time, and that’s when they called the police. When officer arrived at the scene, he was gone.”
At 11:55 p.m., Smith said Nassau County police responded to a call for a possible intruder at a home on Lynbrook Drive. When officers arrived, the homeowner told police that she had heard a noise and found a man holding a weapon or tool in her home.
