East End man stabbed mom 40-plus times before fatal Mother’s Day police shooting: investigators

A quiet East End neighborhood became the scene of a bloody Mother’s Day knife attack when police say a 28-year-old man stabbed his mom more than 40 times — before officers shot and killed him as the assault continued.

Southampton Town police officers arrived at the modest Toppings Drive ranch house in Northampton to find Steven Eastwood standing over his wounded mother with a knife, authorities said during a Monday press conference.

“This was a very violent scene,” Southampton Town Police Chief James Kiernan said as he recounted the chaos facing responding officers.

According to police, Eastwood had been intoxicated and acting violently inside the home before his mother called 911 for help.

The arriving officers repeatedly ordered Mr. Eastwood to drop the weapon, but he instead advanced toward officers while still holding the knife, the chief said.

The officers stepped back in an attempt to draw him away from the bleeding victim and de-escalate the confrontation, but Mr. Eastwood turned back toward his mother and resumed the attack, Chief Kiernan added.

“Within moments, he refocused his attention on the victim and returned to her and was actively stabbing and slashing at her body,” he said.

The officers shot Mr. Eastwood after facing what was described as an ongoing deadly assault.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders from Flanders Northampton Ambulance. Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps personnel also responded to assist at the scene, according to police.

The new details emerged a day after authorities initially confirmed only that officers responding to what police described as an “escalating violent domestic situation” had fatally shot a man at the home in Northampton, a hamlet within Southampton Town on the Riverhead border.

Police said the mom first called 911 around 2:43 p.m. reporting her son was intoxicated, acting violently and threatening her inside the home. As officers rushed toward the scene, the woman called again to report her son was now armed with a knife, Chief Kiernan said.

The unidentified mother survived the attack but suffered more than 40 apparent stab and slash wounds and was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for emergency treatment, police said.

Three Southampton Town police officers involved in the shooting were also transported to a hospital for trauma evaluation and later released, according to officials.

The shooting remains under investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Suffolk County Police homicide detectives and Southampton Town detectives, as required under state law whenever police use deadly force.

Police have not released the names of the officers involved.