A female NYPD officer was slashed in the face inside a Brooklyn station house early Sunday morning by a man wielding a 14-inch butcher knife who forced his way in through a back door, police said.

The attacker, described as a man in his 40s, stormed into the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville around 5:28 a.m. and tried to enter through an employee entrance, according to NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera. When an officer ordered him to go through the front entrance, he pulled out the massive knife and slashed her across the face.

The wounded officer fought back, and colleagues immediately rushed to her aid. One officer discharged a Taser, briefly subduing the suspect, but he fled out the back of the precinct as officers gave chase.

Minutes earlier, police said, the same man had entered through the precinct’s front door but left after speaking briefly with another officer.

The pursuit ended near East New York Avenue and Amboy Street, outside a nearby housing project, where the suspect refused repeated orders to drop the weapon. Rivera said the man brandished the knife and charged at officers, prompting several of them to open fire. The suspect was struck multiple times and rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The injured officer was treated for a head wound, which officials described as minor. She is recovering and “in good spirits,” Rivera said.

Police released photos of the butcher knife and a bloodied blue glove left at the scene.

“This situation could have turned out very differently,” Rivera told reporters at a press briefing, calling it another stark reminder of the dangers officers face daily. “This is the risk that every NYPD officer faces every single day.”

The identity of the attacker has not been released.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)