Southampton officials said officers fired after a knife attack continued inside the home.
NORTHAMPTON, N.Y. — A Mother’s Day emergency call from a Long Island woman escalated into a fatal police shooting Sunday after officers said her son attacked her with a knife inside their home.
Southampton Town police identified the man killed as 28-year-old Steven Eastwood. Officials said his mother, 62, suffered more than 40 stab and slash wounds at the Topping Drive home and remained hospitalized after emergency surgery.
The first 911 call came shortly before 3 p.m., when the woman told dispatchers her son was intoxicated and violent, police said. Before officers arrived, she called again and reported that he was threatening her with a knife. Three officers entered the home and found Eastwood holding the knife over his mother, who was on the floor, officials said.
Police said the officers repeatedly told Eastwood to drop the weapon. Instead, he moved toward them with the knife. Officers backed away, trying to pull him away from the woman, but Eastwood turned back and continued the attack, officials said. The officers then fired, killing him. Emergency medical personnel pronounced Eastwood dead at the home.
The woman, described by officials and neighbors as wheelchair-bound, was taken by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital. Southampton police said she was unconscious Monday after undergoing surgery. Authorities have not released her name. Police said only Eastwood and his mother appeared to be inside the home when officers arrived.
Neighbors told local reporters the woman was quiet and kept to herself. One neighbor described her as “a beautiful woman” and said the family had faced long-running problems. Police Chief James Kiernan said officers had been called to the home multiple times in the past 10 years, including for domestic incidents.
Kiernan said investigators were reviewing the history of the home and the moments before the shooting. He said there may have been a prior order of protection but that no active order was in place Sunday. Officials said they had not determined a motive and had not said whether Eastwood had a confirmed history of mental illness.
The New York State Attorney General’s Office responded to the scene and is leading the review of the police shooting. Suffolk County police, New York State Police, Flanders Northampton Ambulance, Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance and nearby village police departments also assisted.
Authorities said body camera video captured the encounter. No release date for the footage had been announced by Tuesday.
Author note: Last updated May 12, 2026.