A wheelchair-bound woman was hospitalized after police said officers confronted her armed son.
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Police fatally shot a man Sunday afternoon after authorities said he stabbed his disabled mother inside a home on Topping Drive in Riverhead during a Mother’s Day domestic incident.
The shooting brought Southampton Town police, Suffolk County detectives and the New York State Attorney General’s Office to a residential block on Long Island’s East End. The mother was taken to an area hospital with serious stab wounds. Her condition had not been released by early Monday.
Authorities said officers were called to the home just before 3 p.m. News 12 reported that detectives placed the response time at 2:40 p.m. Police said the man was armed with a knife when Southampton Town officers encountered him. Sources told ABC7NY the man had a weapon in his hand when officers shot him. The man’s name had not been released.
The woman is confined to a wheelchair, according to ABC7NY. Neighbors described her as quiet and said she had endured years of domestic abuse. Several neighbors said she had triplet sons and that at least two of them had suffered from mental illness. Officials had not publicly confirmed a motive or released a full account of what happened inside the home before officers arrived.
Three Southampton Town police officers were treated at a hospital and released. Officials did not immediately describe their injuries. Suffolk County police said the circumstances of the shooting were not fully clear Sunday night. Detectives from the state attorney general’s office responded, as they do in cases where police action may have caused a death.
The case now turns to the state review of the shooting, along with the local investigation into the stabbing. Authorities had not announced charges because the accused attacker died at the scene. Investigators are expected to examine 911 calls, officer statements, medical records, physical evidence and any available video from the area.
By late Sunday, the home on Topping Drive had become the center of a large police response. Neighbors watched as investigators worked through the evening. The violence stood out because it happened on Mother’s Day and involved a woman neighbors said had already lived through years of trouble inside the family home.
The investigation remained active Monday, May 11, with the mother’s condition, the man’s identity and the officers’ account of the shooting still pending.
Author note: Last updated May 11, 2026.