The shooting happened after the unidentified man attacked 'a number of children' aged 8 to 16 with a meat cleaver at a home in Bensonhurst, commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

The man may be related to the girls, who all survived, the police said. An 11-year-old called 911, and officers rushed to the house in Brooklyn where the children lived.

Officials say police shot a meat cleaver-wielding man who apparently slashed and stabbed four of his young female relatives during a bloody rampage inside a Brooklyn home.

A 49-year-old man wielding a blood-covered meat cleaver was shot and critically injured by New York City police officers on Sunday after allegedly stabbing four young girls believed to be his relatives in their home, authorities said. Two officers opened fire on the suspected attacker when they forced their way into the home and he allegedly ignored repeated orders to drop the bloody weapon and stepped toward the officers, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Sunday outside the home where the attack occurred. Tisch said officers found a "horrific scene" with the walls and floors spattered with blood when they arrived at the apartment in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The young girls were attacked with a meat cleaver by a man identified as Longqian Chen, 49, who was believed to be related to the children.

A man armed with a meat cleaver slashed four young girls at a New York City home on Sunday morning, the NYPD said. Police believe the man was related to the girls.