The US authorities in New York announced today, Sunday, that a man stabbed four people from one family to death with a knife and injured two policemen before being killed by police gunfire.

Police chief Jeffrey Madrey told reporters that a force was sent to a house in the Queens area of New York early on Sunday in response to a call from a woman to the emergency number reporting that one of her relatives was killing members of her family.

Upon the police arrival at the site, they saw a man leaving the house before he attacked two policemen with a knife, injuring them, but one of them shot the 38-year-old suspect and killed him.

Outside the house, police officers found an 11-year-old child seriously injured, who was taken to the hospital but later died.

A fire in the house prevented the police from entering, but once the flames were extinguished, the bodies of three others were discovered: a 12-year-old child, a 44-year-old woman, and a man in his thirties, according to head of the investigation department Joseph Kenny.

Another victim, a 61-year-old woman, was taken to the hospital with serious stab wounds. The two injured policemen are expected to recover.

The police have not yet determined the man's motives for committing the crime, but it appears the reason was a family dispute.

The police also reported that the suspect lives in the Bronx neighborhood of New York and was previously arrested for a domestic violence incident.