'It doesn't take 12 bullets to kill one person': Family of knife-wielding man shot dead in Times Square blast officers involved... as cops insist they acted in self-defence

• Officers claim their actions were self defence
• Said they had never fired their weapons on duty before
• One officer fired nine shots while the other fired three
• 51-year-old Darrius Kennedy screamed at officers and waved 11-inch knife erratically
• Relatives say the situation should have been handled much differently
• Shot three times in the chest, twice in the left arm, once in the groin and once in the left calf - and died at a nearby hospital
• He refused repeated orders to drop weapon in one of New York's busiest tourist spots
• May stir controversy about the city's stop-and-frisk policies

By Laura Cox

PUBLISHED: 20:19 GMT, 12 August 2012 | UPDATED: 00:11 GMT, 13 August 2012

Police officers who shot and killed a man who lunged at them with a large kitchen knife have insisted that they acted in self defence.

Darrius Kennedy screamed 'Shoot me, shoot me' as he brandished an 11-inch IKEA kitchen knife at the veteran officers.

Kennedy lunged at the officers, at times coming to within two feet of them.

On Sunday, Kennedy's relatives said the situation should have been handled much differently.

His aunt, Margaret Johnson, told the New York Daily News: 'It doesn't take 12 bullets to kill one person... I think it could have been done another way.'

One officer, a 40-year-old on the police force for 18 years, fired three times while his 30-year-old partner, a seven-year-veteran, fired off nine rounds as horrified witnesses took cover.

FULL STORY & VIDEO: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187432/Darrius-Kennedy-sho...