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Sgt. Hugh Barry, 30, encountered Deborah Danner, 66, after receiving a complaint from a neighbor that she was acting erratically, said Det. Ahmad Nasser.
When Barry found Danner in the bedroom of her home on the seventh floor of Pugsley Avenue in Castle Hill at 6 p.m. she threatened him with scissors, Nasser said.
Barry managed to convince Danner to put down the scissors, but as soon as she did, she pick up a baseball bat and charged Barry with the bat, he added.
That's when the eight-year veteran of the department fired two shots, hitting Danner in the torso, Nasser said.
Danner was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
Officials put Barry on modified duty while an investigation is conducted into why lethal force was used instead of a taser, which Barry was carrying at the time.
As news spread of Danner's death, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted "we're determined to get to the bottom of what happened."
During a press conference on Wednesday, the mayor called the shooting "tragic and unacceptable."
Police Commissioner James O'Neil told the press "we failed," adding that police should only use deadly force in dire situations and that NYPD regulations regarding how to handle the mentally ill were not followed.
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