GREENBURGH, N.Y. – A New Jersey man accused of stabbing his girlfriend shot and killed himself in a taxi as officers closed in, police in a New York City suburb said Wednesday.
Darnell Brittingham, 23, of Hackensack, N.J., was pronounced dead Tuesday night in Greenburgh, said police Lt. Chris McNerney.
"He knew we were going to arrest him, and he decided he wasn't going to go to jail," said Greenburgh police Chief John Kapica.
Brittingham, an aspiring rapper, was accused of stabbing his girlfriend seven times in a Hackensack apartment on Feb. 12. Police in Hackensack had traced him through his cell phone to a motel in Greenburgh, where officers saw him get into a taxi with a woman Tuesday, McNerney said.
Officers stopped the vehicle, and Brittingham shot himself with a handgun after ignoring orders to get out, McNerney said.
He said the cab driver and the female passenger have not been charged.
Brittingham, who performed under the stage name "King Tut," apparently did not belong to a record label.
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