NYPD cops fatally shoot gunman who wounded 3 men at Brooklyn liquor store
Patrolling cops who came across a liquor store shooting in Brooklyn on Thursday night fatally shot the suspect as he pulled a gun on them, police said.
The officers, members of an NYPD Public Safety Unit, were in Bushwick near the intersection of Halsey St. and Wilson Ave. by Irving Square Park when they heard gunfire, police said
The gunfire came from Boardwalk Wine and Spirits on Halsey St. a few steps south of the intersection.
“I was standing right there,” said a witness who declined to give his name. “He walked up and boom, boom, boom. He shot everybody. I started running. It was crazy, man.”
Two of those shot were inside the store, and one was seated outside in a canvas chair, said the sources. A plate glass window on the store’s front was shattered in the gunfire.
Cops arrived seconds later, as the gunman fled on foot up Halsey Ave. and then left onto Wilson Ave., said sources.
“The officers immediately gave chase. Body-worn cameras were activated,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes at a news conference early Friday.
Holmes said the body-worn cameras show the officers approaching the suspect.
“They observed the man holding a firearm in his left hand, and gave commands for the man to drop the gun,” Holmes said. “The man does not comply and instead raises the firearm in the direction of the officers.”
The cops mortally wounded the shooter near the corner of Wilson Ave. and Weirfield St., across from the park, about 350 feet from the liquor store, said Holmes.
The shooter was found wounded between two cars, said sources.
“There were lots of gunshots — at least 15 gunshots,” said a worker at Jimmy’s Pizzeria, nearby on Wilson Ave. “They seemed to be coming from different weapons.”
Three guns, including the one belonging to the man shot by police, were recovered at the scene, Holmes said. One of the guns was visible outside the liquor store, atop the trunk of a gray Maserati automobile.