EX-COP SHOOTS SUPER’S BEAU: NYPD

A DISPUTE between neighbors turned violent Monday when an ex-cop shot a 45-year-old man in the head in Brooklyn, police sources said.

The wounded man, Joe Stepinski, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was on life support Monday night, according to officials.

The attack happened around 2:30 p.m. in front of a row home on Greenpoint Ave., near McGuinness Blvd., in Greenpoint.

A neighbor said Stepinski’s girlfriend is the super of the building where he and the suspect, retired NYPD Officer Gene Barrett, 51, live. The excop retired on a disability pension in 2002.

After the shooting, Barrett ran into 185 Greenpoint Ave., a three-story walkup with six units.

Police locked the building down, with an officer racing to the roof, snipers on a building across the way and a cop with a megaphone on the street trying to convince the suspect to surrender.

More than an hour later, Barrett was taken into custody.

Cops said they recovered two guns at the scene.

“The shooter ran into the building. We set up a dialogue and he surrendered voluntarily,” said Deputy Chief Michael Kemper. “We’re still trying to identify the motive for the shooting.”

Neighbors said the tenant had been courting trouble for weeks.

“He is an ex-cop,” one neighbor said. “He was always moody. He had real anger issues.” A friend of the victim said Stepinski’s girlfriend, Melissa Rotundo, eerily spoke to the suspect just after the shooting. “Joe’s girlfriend heard something was happening at the building,” the friend said, adding that she called his phone and the ex-cop answered. “She asked, ‘How did you get Joe’s phone?’ He told her she had to come home. She had to come home now.” Police said Barrett took Stepinksi’s cell phone and keys and entered his apartment after opening fire. The victim’s friend described Stepinski as “a good man.” “He helped her keep up the building and raise her two kids,” she said. “It’s so sad.”

Neighbor Mattie Sasano, 33, said he heard Barrett and Stepinski arguing weeks ago, adding cops were called to the building.

“It’s totally crazy. He never said anything to me,” Sasano said of Barrett. “He thought people were touching his granddaughter. He put signs up all over the building. I heard them arguing about his granddaughter. Joe was saying, ‘I’m filming you.’ It was all insane.”

On Monday, it was also tragic.

“When I came home, there was blood all over the door stoop,” Sasano said. “My nextdoor neighbor had shot the guy downstairs.

“He was the nicest, sweetest guy who helped everyone,” Sasano said of Stepinski. “He helped me move in. He helped me when I was locked out.”

Police said they charged Barrett with attempted murder, robbery, assault and burglary.