Police Shoot Man Stabbing Girlfriend

Authorities say a Binghamton man who was stabbing a woman in a bedroom was shot by a police captain.

City police chief Joseph Zikuski said 53-year-old Ralph Townsend was attacking his girlfriend in their apartment at 6 Miles Street when officers arrived around eight o'clock Thursday evening.

Zikuski said Captain Patrick McCormack and Officer Daniel Burns went to the door of the second-floor apartment but received no response.

The police chief said moments later, a woman screamed: "He's got a knife to my throat!"

McCormack and Burns kicked in the locked apartment door.

Zikuski said the officers entered and saw Townsend on a bed, on top of the 48-year-old woman, stabbing her

with a knife.

According to the chief, McCormack shot Townsend twice in the back. He's hospitalized with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.

The woman, who sustained four stab wounds, underwent surgery at Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City. She was reported in critical condition this afternoon in the intensive care unit.

Zikuski praised McCormack's actions when he saw the woman being attacked.

The chief told WNBF News it's "highly likely he prevented her from being murdered."

Townsend has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault. He also faces a count of criminal possession of a weapon.

Zikuski said city police had been called to the Townsend apartment several times in the past for domestic disputes.