A Queens woman was shot by police after taking a knife from her brother, who had allegedly “snapped” and wounded several relatives inside their Jamaica home, her family told The Post.
Shanequa Donovan, 38, called 911 Friday night after her brother, Rashaun Donovan, 48, allegedly began attacking family members, according to her boyfriend, Edward Grant, who spoke Saturday.
When officers arrived at the home on 149th Street at about 9:45 p.m., Shanequa reportedly leaned out of a window and dropped her keys to the responding officers so they could get inside, police and relatives said.
By then, she had taken possession of the knife Rashaun was carrying. Grant said Shanequa was still holding the weapon when officers, following screams to a cramped attic bedroom, found her and Grant attempting to restrain Rashaun.
The officers instructed everyone in the room to get down on the floor, Grant said.
“She was about to lie down on the ground to put the knife down and put her hands up,” Grant said. “I don’t think she realized she still had the knife in her hand.”
Grant, 48, recalled one officer shouting, “‘She got a knife,’” before gunshots rang out: “Pop! Pop!”
Officials said Shanequa was struck three times.
Officers administered emergency medical aid at the scene before rushing her to Jacobi Medical Center. She was listed in stable condition, police said.
Authorities said the responding officers did not have a description of the person believed to be responsible for the attacks.
After identifying themselves, officers ordered all three people to raise their hands. The two men complied, officials said.
“The female pointed with her left hand at one of the males across the room, but did not raise her right hand,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Phil Rivera said during a news conference at the Jamaica scene.
Rivera said Shanequa continued to hold the knife and moved toward the officers without following their commands. “She was within several feet of the officers when an officer discharged his firearm, striking her,” he said.
A second officer fired a Taser during the confrontation.
Rivera said investigators had no reason to believe Shanequa was the person who stabbed the other family members.
One injured man was transported to Jamaica Hospital, while two others were taken to North Shore University Hospital. All three were reported to be in stable condition.
Body-worn camera footage captured the police shooting and will be examined by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division, officials said.
Grant told The Post that the chaotic evening had begun quietly. He had prepared tacos for Shanequa, her brother and two other relatives who were in the house.
“He just kind of snapped,” Grant said.
After hearing a commotion, Grant went downstairs to investigate. That was when he saw Rashaun holding what appeared to be two knives, he said.
“He was in the living room,” Grant said. “He had the lights off, like waiting to kill us.”
Grant ran back upstairs to the attic bedroom where his girlfriend was and she called police, he said.
“She was frantic,” he recalled. “They probably couldn’t understand what she was saying.”
Karon Davis, 23, who was also in the home at the time of the attack and is the nephew of the alleged attacker, said it “happened out of nowhere.”
“I was immediately the first victim, he broke into my room,” Davis said. “He stabbed me in the shoulder.”
Rashaun Donovan then went up to the attic and broke down the door to get inside, he said. Shanequa pepper-sprayed him.
“She’s screaming ‘He’s going crazy,’” Grant recalled. “He stabbed me. I just started defending myself and my girlfriend. Survival mode.”
Donovan may have lost it because he was supposed to go to a martial arts event in Spain with his parents but missed the flight, Davis said. The couple owns two dojos where Donovan works.
“He was gonna show off for Team USA and all this stuff,” Davis said. “But due to that, I think it was overwhelming pressure…it got to his mental state, and … it just broke him down.”